Education Maintenance Allowance must keep pace with the challenges students face

Luke Fletcher – MS for South Wales West 

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) played a crucial role in my education.

I still remember the uncertainty I felt back in 2011, when I was weighing up whether to stay on for sixth form with the Conservative government’s decision to cut EMA in England looming over learners like me. But in Wales, we kept it.

That’s why, when I was first elected, I made it a priority to campaign for an increase in the payment so that today’s learners could benefit from the real-terms value of the payment like I did.

Since my election to the Senedd in 2021, the cost of living crisis has shaped much of my work. That’s why I’ve been campaigning to increase both the value of EMA and the eligibility thresholds, ensuring the value of the allowance reflects today’s costs and that more generous thresholds allow more learners to access it.

To drive this forward, I held panels in further education colleges and sixth forms across Wales to hear directly from students and educators.

Essential

From the countless conversations I had, their message was clear: while EMA was essential, it simply wasn’t enough to meet many learners’ needs. After consistent pressure, sustained campaigning, and urging the Welsh Government to increase the payment as well as the thresholds, we finally got change for the first time since 2004. The Welsh Government announced an uplift to the allowance from £30 to £40 in April 2023.

Last week, then, was not only a particularly proud moment for me, but for every learner that contributed to those panels.

A review of the allowance, published last summer, brought forward a range of positive recommendations that were responsive to key issues raised by students and educators, and as the Minister for Further and Higher Education revealed last week, a new one-dependent threshold is increasing from £21,800 to £23,400, while the threshold for those with two or more dependents is increasing from just over £23,000 to nearly £26,000.

Welcome

This means that all learners from families earning under the thresholds will be eligible for the payment.

These are welcome actions, and having been in receipt of EMA myself, I know just how much of a difference this will make to the additional 3,500 learners who will now have access
to this support.

However, there’s still a way to go. One of the most significant issues raised in the panels had been the complexity of the application process. Many learners described it as unnecessarily arduous, compounded by long delays between applying for EMA and receiving the first payment.

In some of the worst cases, students waited from September to December before receiving a payment. Payments are backdated, but this gap meant that many students struggled financially during the initial months of their courses, a period where many will need to buy the materials and equipment for their courses, with some even being unable to attend college.

Introducing automatic enrolment or streamlining the application process was a recurring suggestion from staff and students alike, and is something the Welsh Government could do without much cost.

Another key concern raised during my discussions with students was the rigidity of EMA’s attendance requirements.

Currently, missing even a single day can result in a loss of payment – this is excessively punitive. The review’s recommendation to introduce more flexibility is a welcome step forward, ensuring that infrequent absences do not lead to missing out on a payment.

Value

Transport costs have also been highlighted as a major barrier to education. Many students shared that travel expenses were their single largest cost, making it difficult for them to attend college consistently.

All of this is to say that the recommendations are reflective of and seek to address the struggles learners face. But, as with so much when it comes to the Welsh Government, it will all come down to whether the government acts on the remaining recommendations and actions them in full.

Further work is needed to ensure that the real-terms value of the allowance keeps pace with the economic demands placed on learners today – the current value of EMA may soon fall short once again.

As we look ahead, I remain committed continuing the fight for the changes needed to ensure that the EMA keeps pace with the challenges students face and continues to serve as a meaningful means of support for those who rely on it most.

There’s still work to be done to maintain its relevance and effectiveness in a changing economic landscape.