Written - Changes to the Educational Maintenance Allowances Wales Scheme

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Wales scheme was introduced for 16 year olds in 2004/05. In 2005/06, the scheme was extended to include 16 and 17 year olds and, in 2006/07, 18 year olds. The principal component of EMA is a weekly allowance, linked to satisfactory attendance, paid to eligible learners attending learning centres in Wales.                      

The aim of EMA is to address the link between low income and low participation by providing a financial incentive to young people from low-income households to remain in full-time education beyond compulsory education. Applications for the EMA in 2009/10 have increased significantly over the previous year. Figures from “StatsWales” published on 14 July show that as at 30 June 2010, a total of 38,480 EMA Wales applications had been received, which was a 9 per cent increase on the same point for 2008/09 applications. The value of EMA payments in 2008/09 was £28.9m increasing to over £33m for 2009/10.  

Evaluations have been undertaken of the EMA schemes in Scotland and England. In Wales, the Assembly Government undertook an initial evaluation in 2008 and more recently consulted with focus groups of young people looking at the proposals for modernising EMA within the Fees Policy review and consultation. The different strands of research and evaluation show a number of positive aspects of the EMA scheme including participation rates.

However, evaluation has also shown that the EMA scheme is most effective and beneficial for those from certain groups - male learners, learners from minority ethnic groups, those with backgrounds of high deprivation, and learners on lower level and vocational courses - centred mainly in the £30 award band. For a large proportion of students, the EMA scheme does not appear to have an impact on the decision to stay on in education. The current form of EMA is thus not delivering on its fundamental aim and needs to be reformed to focus resource where it has most impact.

In the light of the evidence which is now available on the effect of EMA on learner retention and achievement, the following changes are to be introduced for new entrants to the EMA Wales scheme with effect from academic year 2011/12:

• the lower EMA payment bands of £10 and £20 per week will be phased out in order to target support at those most in need and for whom the scheme has the greatest impact;
• the periodic bonuses of £100 that may currently be paid if learning objectives are met or when a student returns for the second year of a course will be removed;
• we will seek to align better the income thresholds for students across Student Finance Wales products where possible and appropriate in order to remove complexity and ensure smooth and effective transition between products as students progress through their post-16 education;
• in future, the cost of other dependant children will be factored into the assessment of household income for EMA purposes;
• we will encourage participation in higher education by giving younger learners an illustration of the support that could be available to those receiving EMA Wales grant support who subsequently progress on to HE.

We believe these changes are appropriate to ensure a focus on those most in need and are in broadly line with changes being implemented elsewhere in the UK.