Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)

What is Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)?

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is a weekly payment of £40 to help 16- to 18-year-olds in Wales with the costs of further education. The payments are made every two weeks, as long as you have met the attendance requirements of your school or college.

Who is eligible for EMA?

You can apply for EMA if you’re between the ages of 16 and 18, you are a UK citizen living in Wales and you meet the household income requirements.
Your course needs to be an academic or vocational course, up to and including Level 3. Examples are:

• GCSEs
• As-Levels or A-Levels
• BTEC, GNVQ, NVQ
• Basic Skills courses
• Independent Living Skills courses

Your course doesn’t need to take place in Wales however, the school or college does need to be involved in the EMA scheme.

If you are studying at school, your course must be full-time. If you are studying at college, your course must last at least 10 weeks and you must be studying a minimum of 12 guided hours per week.

To meet the household income requirements to apply for EMA, your household income must be:

• £20,817 or less if you’re the only young person living in the home
• £23,077 or less if there is more than one child or young person, including yourself, living in the home

You can use the Further Education calculator from Student Finance Wales to work out whether you can get EMA based on your household income.

How and when to apply

Because EMA is awarded on an annual basis, you need to apply for the allowance before your course starts.

You can read more on how and when to apply, including guidance notes, on the Student Finance Wales website,