Scrapping EMA

[TrollinaTrollpants]

will poor people really miss it?

EMA enables a lot of poorer teenagers to actually stay on at school or go to college ..any incentive to get a further education is a good thing in my book

but we don't want the poor people to do that do we ..oh no

ffs

Shouldn't being able to get a decent job at the end of it be the incentive to get further education?

I ask again, what makes Britain different to every other country in the world? Why must we pay our teenagers to be educated?

Oh and youth unemployment is at a record high atm,in case you hadn't noticed

Why is youth unemployment so high? Why are employers not taking on young people, despite being legally able to pay them less?

'Why must we pay our teenagers to be educated?' It's paying for their educational expenses -how do you expect poor kids to get to school ?

Because there are so many people out of work maybe? and chasing jobs

Because employers are not willing to train

Because there are few apprenticeships

Because many employers use agency workers

EMA to us replaced the tax credits they cut when she joined 6th form they give it in one hand and take it away with the other at least that is MY experience, also they find any reason to not pay it it's on performance aswell as "just turning up" You may argue that we shouldn't get tax credits either and that I still get CB but I'm sorry there are a lot of families in this country that can't survive without. I just think it's unfair to tar all the kids with the same brush, yes there are a lot out there who do think it should be handed to them on a plate, but there are also thousands who do want to work and who do want to have a better future, my daughter will still go to 6th form and will continue with her education reguardless, that doesn't mean she is workshy or has a sense of entitlement because we are going to find it hard going without EMA.

IMO people that earn less than £20,000 a year should not pay income tax. It is stupid to take money from people in tax, then expect them to be grateful to get some of it back in tax credits and EMA. It is just a Labour scheme to trick people and to create pointless nob-jobs.

I definitely think transport costs should be subsidised for teens from low incomes. But lunch? WTF? Take a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a bag of crisps. You don't need to buy lunch. At 16, you should be capable of making your own lunch to take.

See now I agree with you there, as I said yes they gave my DD EMA, but my tax credits were cut by almost the same amount so it wasn't extra money to us.

Food still has to be paid for reguardless of buying at school or making your own ! lets not start accusing kids of being totally useless., well at least my teenagers are not anyway. After travel she is only left with £1.50 a day for lunch anyway not exactly living it up.

to be fair the parents in come doesnt always filter down to the kids, i had a job in maccy ds when i was doin my alevels, i worked 4 days a week, 2 week days 5-12 and fri sat 5-2,

my mum earned more then 30k,

she would ive me bare minimum money, basically #£3 for transport and food, i had to take 2 uses to school so that was half the money one and the rest went on toast and tea at 10.30 break....

as a sinle parent with a mortae etc she couldnt afford to ive me more, i paid for my own clothes and toiletries etc,

if i had ema i would have had better attendance as not workin stupid hours, i could of worked one day less, and i would have had better rades

The real young people it will have an impact on are those who don't have parents to support them. There are may young people who for whatever reason cannot live at home once they leave school. It is shocking how many 'parents' decide that once a child reaches 16 they are none of their business anymore. Social services can't/won't help once a child is 16.

So they have to set up home for themselves and try and finish school and go to college on £53.45 a week. Their housing is mostly paid for - but usually not entirely, because the local council will only put under 18s in 'supported housing' but the cost of this is higher than the single rate for housing benefit so they have to pay towards it. These are the kids who NEEDED EMA.

That also happens more and more all over the country , at least 3 of DDs class mates were effectivly evicted from home at the end of july last year, one girl was because she wouldn't give up her studies and go to work on a market with her sister ! There is still sadley a lot of the "education isn't for the likes of us" mentality.

dd gets her EMA ...she walks to 6th form and is entitled to free meals anyway......so the system took all control out of my hands

she doesnt need to do extra stuff around the house anymore,as the pocket money she was getting before EMA was £15 a week,now replaced by her EMA...so no extra chores done and i cant control things as well as before....cant threaten a cut in money or anything

yes,she costs less....but it means she's lazier!! it all gets spent on N-dubz concerts and in new look.....what can i do?? nothing

Really fed up with the attitude some people think of paying teenagers to stay at school.

It isn't. It's helping towards the costs of materials. 6th form colleges dont provide all the resources schools do, and all courses need materials, plus fares are very expensive for over 16's

Perhaps they should sit on the backsides and not bother trying to educate themselves. No need to have aspirations or use talent is there. Leave school and if you are indeed mighty fortunate you may get a dead end job, as with no real qualifications what do you have to offer.

Please support the less fortunate teenagers with their education, not tear them to bits and say we didnt have it in our day. No, maybe we didn't, but more was provided in the way of resources then and travel wasnt so extortionate.

There are very little part time jobs in many areas of the country - our children need as much help as possible.

Don't Over 16 FE students have B-Line cards (or equivalent) that give them fares at the same price as under 16s? I know in London, transport is FREE for them.

I don't think more was provided back in the day. People just had lower expectations, and took it for granted that it was up to themselves to make their own way in the world, not go running cap in hand to the government to give them the moon on a stick.

Sorry but it's because of statments like that , that people assume that the majority of students don't need EMA ! My DD helps at home, she is the eldest of 4 and perhaps I'm one of the lucky ones because she dosen't expect paying for it she does it to help me with the little ones as does my DS 14.Again I'm proberbly one of the lucky ones. DD see's EMA as it's supposed to be and I know it goes on nothing else. I buy her clothes etc from her CB and tax credits and still she needs exta for photo copying, paper etc.

"Moon on a stick" well again I haven't brought my kids up to think the world owes them a living, There is no B-line cards or anything else here , the only way we can get help with travel is if you are on JS allowance, same goes for free school dinners. My husband works bloody hard to provide for us and yes I am a SAHM our choice, and to be honest cheaper for us because of child care expenses. I want better for my kids, they want better for themselves , just because we are low income doesn't mean our children have any less right to an education and a chance of a decent career. Again not all teenagers are lazy, expect everything on a plate, the majority do want to pay their own way in this world it's just bloody hard for them to get a break.

Transport isnt free for over 16's in London, its discounted 33 per cent of adult.

Out of London there are also discounted schemes but still add up to quite a lot. More was provided. I stayed on at school in the 70s and was not asked to provide nearly so much as I have to now for teenagers. I'm sorry you call providing for teenagers from poorer homes, going cap in hand to the government. After all teenagers from poorer homes arent going to do anything with their lives, are they? Attitudes are terrible. Our family income is around £13K - with both parents in part time employment due to redundancy. Yes, there's WFTC but with a gifted teenager losing EMA, how far do you expect these wages to stretch

"I stayed on at school in the 70s and was not asked to provide nearly so much as I have to now for teenagers."

What was provided in the 70s that is not provided now?

lots and lots of expensive art equipment for a start

vocational courses require students to provide equipment - ie hairdressing

mrspat....statements like what? this is a discussion fgs,different views and perspectives and all that!

my dd does her normal stuff,but is now less motivated to do more as she has a nice £30 in her bank each week! luckily she's a lovely girl and works hard. and buys her younger brothers an ice cream occasionally!

I wonder how many people in reciept of EMA bother to get P/T jobs compared to those not in reciept of it? What effect will this have when it becomes time to apply for F/T jobs?

I don't know any parents that would give their children £30 a week. Not even close to that much really.

In the 70's there were free bus travel for over a certain distance, schools provided nearly all matrials down to pens and paper, any drama groups etc that came to the school was free, none of this is available now . School trips are sometimes the same price as a family holiday (remember them? I can't) and if it is important to the As level we have to find the money for her to go, again unless you are on JS there is no help.