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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

E.M.A query

12 replies

anastasia74 · 16/05/2008 18:35

Hi, my daughter gets ema, she is in the 6th form, just found out that she has'nt had any money paid into her account for a month,as she has been skipping lessons. The school has'nt let me know about this. Just found out by chance. She has been asking me for more money than usually just lately but did'nt realise why until just now. I feel let down by the school as if I had been informed I could have put pressure on her to attend and tried to found out just what the problem was, where as now she has missed out on both important lessons and I have had to fork out extra money to make up for short fall. Also does any one know if it is only paid while they are in lessons. It is exam time at the moment and they don't go back until June.

thanks

OP posts:
gagarin · 16/05/2008 18:42

If your daughter gets EMA then you should not be giving her money! Then she'd go to school....

Your daughter is above compulsory education age - do the school have to let you know if she doesn't come? I doubt it. I expect they let you know attendance levels at parent's evening or by reports home?

mumeeee · 16/05/2008 20:24

If she gets EMA you should not be giving her any money.
I think EMA is very unfair on the students who don't get it. It should be given to all students or not at all.
DD2 has never got EMA as we earn just a bit to much. She sees some of her friends get EMA and get a bonus for meeting targets. We can't afford to give her that much although we do try and reward her for workng hard.
Her college will let me know if she is missing lessons and is good at informing parents about what the students should be doing,

LaineyW · 16/05/2008 22:32

There's lots of info on the EMA website at
www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/14To19/MoneyToLearn/EMA/DG_066951

alfiesbabe · 17/05/2008 09:11

Agree with mumeeee. EMA is one of the biggest jokes the govt ever came up with. My dd also saw a lot of her friends get it - usually because they had parents who'd split up and the mother had a little part time job so didnt earn enough to reach the threshold. So once again, parents who stay together, and people who work full time are penalised. (And bearing in mind EMA is for 16 +, there's very little reason why both parents can't be in full time work by this stage). It's a very unfair system, and if you talk to 16-18 year olds as I do a lot in my job, you realise that the system is abused about 90% of the time. The rationale behind it was to make further education more accessible to 'poorer' people. The reality is that most of the young people use it as booze/smoking money. After the age of 16, people CHOOSE to stay in education. As I say, I totally disagree with EMA anyway (it should be given to ALL or not at all) but given that the system is in place, then of course it's reasonable to withold it if the student can't be arsed to attend lessons. I also agree that by this stage, a young person is fast approaching adulthood and should be able to take responsibility for themselves. If they choose not to attend, then they should accept the consequences. The OP saying that she has to fork out 'extra' money to make up for the lack of EMA sums up why the system is shit!! If you have the extra money, why the hell is EMA being given in the first place? It shouldnt be a free hand out just to give kids some extra spending money, but clearly that's what it is.

aGalChangedHerName · 17/05/2008 09:19

I also think EMA should be given to all pupils or none at all!!

My ds1 doesn't get it and has had to get a part time job to earn money to do the things his friends (who get EMA) do. As a result i think his studying etc has been affected.

We earn too much for him to get it but we don't earn enought to give him an allowance as we have 3 younger dc. Not fair really

mum2herberts · 17/05/2008 11:23

My sons have both received EMA as we are 'poorer' people.

I can assure you that they have not abused the system and that the money has gone towards necessities such as stationery, materials and equipment for their A level courses and school trips.

They both work hard and I have a big full time job (leave home at 8 am, back at 6pm), not a little part time one.

alfiesbabe · 17/05/2008 11:37

I'm sure there are some people who don't abuse the system, mum2herberts, but the majority do. I talk to these kids, my dd is friends with many of them, and it is booze money. It is also extremely unfair as it does little to encourage some parents to work. Eg, I have a teaching colleague, single parent, who has twin sons age 17. My friend chooses to teach 4 days a week and her sons get £30 a week each. My colleague admits that if she worked 5 days a week, her sons would lose the EMA, so in effect, the family income would be £240 per month down. So she happily takes a day off a week to do as she pleases (after all, 17 year old sons don't exactly need mum sitting at home do they?. The family would be no better off financially if she works full time. Crazy world we live in.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 17/05/2008 11:49

On the whole I don't have a problem with EMA being paid. I do think that it shouldn't be solely based on income; there should be consideration with regard to other dependants. If the payment is mean't to enable students from poorer families to stay on at college then a family with one child is much more likely to be able to pay some sort of allowance than one with other younger siblings.

Also in our area the cost of the bus travel pass is much reduced if you claim EMA. We were able to claim for ds1 but can't now for ds2 as we are about £200 over the income limit. So I'm financing him £10 a week but can't afford the bonus that EMA students get and I'm paying more for his buspass.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 17/05/2008 11:49

On the whole I don't have a problem with EMA being paid. I do think that it shouldn't be solely based on income; there should be consideration with regard to other dependants. If the payment is mean't to enable students from poorer families to stay on at college then a family with one child is much more likely to be able to pay some sort of allowance than one with other younger siblings.

Also in our area the cost of the bus travel pass is much reduced if you claim EMA. We were able to claim for ds1 but can't now for ds2 as we are about £200 over the income limit. So I'm financing him £10 a week but can't afford the bonus that EMA students get and I'm paying more for his buspass.

Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 17/05/2008 11:50

Oops.

jammi · 19/05/2008 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Joash · 19/05/2008 13:15

In response to original OP - Yes EMA is only paid if they attend and only for term time, with bonuses for achieving certain things.

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