Written question WQ87008

For Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) payments to be made to the student, their learning centre (i.e., school or college) must have confirmed to the Student Loans Company (SLC) that the student has attended their programme of learning in accordance with their signed EMA learning agreement.

The learning agreement is a contract between the learning centre and student, and it should set out the required attendance for the student in accordance with both the programme of learning being undertaken and the learning centre’s own attendance policy. Before eligible EMA payments can be released by SLC, the learning centre must confirm to SLC the date the learning agreement was signed.

New eligible students may receive backdated EMA payments to the start of their course in the academic year if their application is received by Student Finance Wales within 13 weeks (instead of the previous eight-week period) of starting their course. If their application is received after 13 weeks, the student will only be entitled for backdated EMA payments to the date their application was received. In all instances their learning agreement must be confirmed as signed before any EMA payments can be released by SLC.

For eligible returning EMA students, they are not required to submit a new application to Student Finance Wales. Confirmation of their signed learning agreement acts as their application to reapply for EMA for a further year. Returning students may receive backdated EMA payments to the start of the course in the academic year if their learning agreement is signed within 13 weeks of their course start date. For learning agreements confirmed as signed after the 13-week period, the returning student’s EMA payments are to be backdated to the date it was signed.

If voluntarily disclosed by the student, the learning agreement also provides a section to detail any extenuating circumstances that may impact their ability to adhere to the learning centre’s attendance policy and set out any discretion agreed by the centre. The purpose is to encourage an open and honest discussion between the student and learning centre, supporting those students who are at risk of not participating in education. This may include, but is not limited to, students with caring responsibilities. A Student Finance Wales Information Notice has recently been issued to learning centres by SLC on our behalf, acting as a reminder for staff dealing with cases of extenuating circumstances: extenuating-circumstances-for-the-education-maintenance-allowance-scheme-and-welsh-government-learning-grant-further-education-scheme-2022-to-2023.pdf (studentfinancewales.co.uk)

The learning centre is responsible for submitting weekly confirmations of their students’ attendance to SLC. These confirmations trigger the release of the EMA payment, which is paid fortnightly to the student. Where students have not attended in accordance with their learning agreement, or where the learning centre has recorded an unauthorised absence, meaning their attendance falls below that agreed, a student’s EMA payments may be affected.

Each learning centre has discretion to manage the attendance of their students by taking account of personal circumstances in accordance with their own policies. Where learning centres have submitted ‘not in attendance’ confirmations to SLC, disputes about missed EMA payments must be taken up by the student with their learning centre in the first instance, following the learning centre’s complaints process if necessary.