Education Maintenance Allowances Awarded in Wales – Update at End of June 2010

Statistics on EMAs include data for Wales for the period up to 30 June 2010. The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 9 June 2010.

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Wales scheme was introduced for 16 year olds for the first time 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 scheme is designed to provide an incentive for students from lower-income families to continue and remain in full-time education. The principal component of the EMA is a weekly allowance, linked to satisfactory attendance, for eligible students attending learning centres in Wales.  Students can qualify for awards of £10, £20 or £30 depending on household income. They can also qualify for periodic additional bonuses of £100 if agreed learning objectives are met.

The key points from the latest release are:

• As at 30 June 2010, a total of 38,480 EMA Wales applications had been received for the academic year 2009/10.
• 36,110 applications (94 per cent) had been approved; 940 (2 per cent) had been rejected; 910 applications (2 per cent) were incomplete(1).
• As at 30 June 2010, a total of 2,400 EMA Wales applications had been received for the academic year 2010/11. Of these, 1,590 had been approved.

Both academic years’ StatsWales figures are updated monthly and are correct at time of publication. They are subject to revisions following further SLC processing, for example due to applications being reclassified from EMA to “Pathways to Apprenticeships” or vice versa.

(1) These may include applications that are “missing information” (e.g. no date of birth included) or “missing evidence” (e.g. birth certificate).

Further information

StatsWales website.

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 1514
E-mail: post16ed.stats@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

August 2010 (provisional - to be confirmed on the 'Due Out Soon' page)