EMA

Whilst I was in 6th form there were loads of people receiving EMA and I can't remember one of them who actually needed it. These were people that smoked 20 a day, owned cars, wore the latest fashion brands etc. Just a collossal waste of money.

If it's meant as an incentive then I don't agree at all. When you're 16 years old you're capable of making up your own mind and shouldn't need bribing to invest time in your own future.
 
scott212 said:
Also the fact it was tied to parental income was flawed. I knew quite a few public school boys and girls with divorced parents who got the full £30/week.
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That was exactly the situation when i was in sixth form. There were a few guys who had divorced/separated parents. This meant they fell into a certain income bracket = instant EMA, yet their standard of living and ability to get to sixth form was perfectly fine. Im sure one used his EMA to pay for driving lessons.

On the other hand, my own situation at the time, dad about to retire due to medical reasons, mom the only source of income (not a stellar salary), three kids in sixth form at the same time. No EMA. Not very fair tbh.
 
trigger-happy said:
You guys forget that the process for applying for EMA is very tough! They check your bank statements, house hold income and more. If you skip lessons you will not get EMA, you must have 100% attendance in lessons and no more than 3 lates a week.
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At my college most of the teachers didn't really care too much, and quite often mark you present or non-late even if you were. Often you would receive a payment witheld letter due to a non-mark, either you were absent or the teacher just didn't bother doing the register. Show it to the head of department, get signature, go to student services, and the EMA is paid in the next week. It was far too easy to fool the system. I suspect this is probably the case in a lot of colleges.

I used the £20 for petrol each week. Yes I didn't need it, but I wasn't going to say no. :)
 
EMA had good and bad points, the good means students can pay for things like lunch if their parents might struggle to give them money, the bad is it encourages people to come to college and get paid, and just arse around all the time. If there was no EMA, they would probably not bother with college anyway.
 
Yateszy said:
EMA had good and bad points, the good means students can pay for things like lunch if their parents might struggle to give them money, the bad is it encourages people to come to college and get paid, and just arse around all the time. If there was no EMA, they would probably not bother with college anyway.
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It's an incentive, it's not supposed to be about equipping 'the poor' with the financial means to continue studying.

At that age people should be mature enough to decide whether they are going to invest in their future without being given a Government allowance.

With the money saved from scrapping EMA, the Government could redistribute the cash in other ways which actually help 'the poor' who WANT to remain in education, remain in education.
 
Lethal` said:
At my college most of the teachers didn't really care too much, and quite often mark you present or non-late even if you were. Often you would receive a payment witheld letter due to a non-mark, either you were absent or the teacher just didn't bother doing the register. Show it to the head of department, get signature, go to student services, and the EMA is paid in the next week. It was far too easy to fool the system. I suspect this is probably the case in a lot of colleges.
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Too true. But that doesn't mean they should scrap it, they should just 'police' it better.
 
I loved getting this when I was back in college. Basically a government funded night out every Friday.

Everyone I knew used it for the same also.
 
explicit4u said:
Too true. But that doesn't mean they should scrap it, they should just 'police' it better.
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It's impossible. It's the best example of Government failure there is.

The best solution would simply be to spend the money saved from scrapping EMA on education, or target it specifically into things like free lunches or free stationary for those who qualify. That way most people wouldn't even bother to apply for it unless they needed it.
 
EMA is indeed only avaliable to students aged between 16-19's (I think over 19's if eligable get this adult learning benefit which is also around £30 ish a week).

I used to get EMA for 2 years when I was at college and to start with at new term it was very useful for when purchasing new college resourves & equipment etc. (especially as a lot of my college books were up to £30 each!)

The rest of the time my EMA was really only used for lunch money and the rest stayed in the bank as I used to get it payed directly into my bank account.

While I was at college I did notice a good few people who only used to attend college purely to get EMA or to get "marked on the register" and then most of the time they just used to sit around in their classes, which is a complete waste.

In a way I'm not suprised that the EMA is getting scrapped as it was expected in a way in my opinion, with all the cuts going on at the moment etc.

Liam
 
trigger-happy said:
You guys forget that the process for applying for EMA is very tough! They check your bank statements, house hold income and more. If you skip lessons you will not get EMA, you must have 100% attendance in lessons and no more than 3 lates a week.
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Maybe at your school, here it was basically impossible not to get it.
 
The last time I received EMA which was back in 2007, I remember that all that to be done was to fill in the application sheet to fill out and also send off a copy of my Mum's payslip & place of work etc. to prove her household income and then a couple of weeks later I received a confirmation letter to confirm that I had been accepted to receive EMA and that it would start once the college confirmed my course start date. I imagine now though that they are more strict with the application process though.

Liam
 
arknor said:
ofcourse they dont really need it its just most are to lazy to get a job!

30quid is easy pocket money... my stepson works in a nightclub and still manages 6th form
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Right so your stepson is in his final year of sixth form (he has to be 18 to work in a club) and works in a club so has to stay there till early morning, yeah that's ****ing brilliant for your studying and exams.

Having a part time job and studying = fail.
 
EMA came in the year I started 6th form.

No end of people's parents who were self employed (even renting out 3-4 houses!) got the £30 a week. Somehow that doesn't add up.

I was shocked at the number of people who got EMA when they were in single parent familes because the maintenance isn't counted as household income. I mean WTF? The parent who was paying the child upkeep could be giving £1,000 a month without it being counted.

EMA was spent on cigarettes, booze, stupid lexus lights, chav exhuasts and computer games.

The many many years before me in 6th form did not need EMA and they don't know.
I though it was a waste of millions of £.

If EMA must stay then ban those getting it from working part time jobs or tax them on the part time jobs, as an 8 hour shift at McDonalds for a 16-17 year old is only about £30 anyway.

Mason- said:
Having a part time job and studying = fail.
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Only if you are incapable of managing your time and/or a complete moron. You are the 'fail' as you aren't getting valuable work experience for your CV.

I had a cleaning job after 6th form each day and then at Theme Park all day Sat and Sun. I always worked at uni until this year as I am sponsored.

The thing that ****ed me off about EMA the most was that I was expected to attend afternoon registration even though I wasn't getting any money!
Tbh though my parents had to be pretty retarded not to earn £30,000 between them when they were in their 40s.
 
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