Policy actions  3 of 4

Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs)

Educational Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) provide financial support to young people from low income families to stay on in post-16 education, either in school or on a college course.

We made changes to the programme in January 2016 to support more young people to stay on in learning, including:

  • increasing the eligible income threshold to £24,421 for households with one dependent child
  • increasing the eligible income threshold to £26,884 for households with more than one dependent child
  • making support available to part-time college students for the first time

EMA is an entitlement and demand led programme which is delivered by local authorities and colleges on behalf of the Scottish Government.

A weekly payment of £30 is made to a young person and is subject to attendance and agreement of a learning plan.

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