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Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)

An Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is an allowance of £30 per week, which can be paid to eligible students who stay on in education after the age of 16 years. Your EMA is paid every 2 weeks during school term time and it is not paid during the holidays.

You need to complete a new application form and Learning Agreement every academic session.

View a British Sign Language translation of this information. 

Please note, if you are attending a college you must apply to the college directly.

Find out more about:

You can also find out more information in our EMA student guidance (PDF 161KB) and on EMA Scotland website.

Eligibility

You can apply for an EMA if you are a student staying in education after the age of 16 years. If you are:

  • 16 years of age or over before 30th September 2024, you may be eligible for an EMA from the beginning of the August school term
  • 16 years of age on or after the 1st October 2024 and on or before 28th February 2025, you may be eligible for an EMA from January 2025

To be paid EMA by the council you need a bank account in your own name and attend an Aberdeenshire school. Students must be ordinarily resident in the UK. Generally, this relates to the qualifying date and the 3 years immediately before. Young people on the New Deal education option or on any government supported training schemes are not eligible for EMA.

Financial requirements

You are eligible for an EMA if:

  • your household total gross income is less than £24,421, with one dependent child
  • your household total gross income is less than £26,884 a year, with more than one dependent child
  • you are attending a full-time non-advanced course
  • you are a student who is Independent

You need to provide supporting documents with your application as evidence of your household income.

Learning Agreement

As part of the EMA application, you will need to complete a Learning Agreement. The agreements sets out the following standards that you must keep: 100% attendance, timekeeping and behaviour expected by your school. If you fail to maintain these standards, your EMA payments may be withheld.

You will not receive any EMA payments until your Learning Agreement has been signed by you, your parent(s)/guardian(s) and your school. After you complete this in your application, we will submit the learning agreement to your school for this to be completed by them.

How to apply

The deadline for applications is 31st March 2025. 

Applications must be submitted by the student unless there are circumstances that require a parent/guardian to complete this on their behalf. Please note that the application is subject to change until the Scottish Government publish updated guidelines.

View EMA privacy notice (PDF 231KB).

Apply for EMA

Supporting documents

You also need to include evidence of your household income. We accept the following documentation:

  • If you are in employment a P60 for year-end April 2024 will be suitable or a month 12/week 52 payslip showing the final pay to date
  • If you are on any benefits please provide us with letters or certificates relating to April 2023 to April 2024
  • If you have a Tax Credit form (TCAN) from HMRC which shows your actual income for 2023-24 this will be sufficient
  • If you are a lone parent household we will require proof of this, provide us with the Council Tax bill showing the 25% reduction or a TCAN showing lone parent is on this
  • If you do not receive the 25% reduction due to an older sibling living in the house, please provide us with their birth certificate and any current paperwork to show they live at this address (we do not use their income)
  • If you are self-employed, please provide us with an SA302 or end of year final tax assessment certificate from HMRC; or if you have a current Tax Credit form showing actual income (not estimated) for 2023-24
  • If you are in receipt of any pension please provide paperwork
  • If you are an independent student living on your own we require proof of situation either from the school or a social worker; also provide us with any benefit letters you receive in your own right, such as Housing or ESA
  • If you are in foster care, kinship care, local authority care or a looked after child, we will require a letter from your social worker to inform us of your situation and we do not use the household income
  • If there has been a significant change in financial circumstances from one year to the next, please provide us with previous income and as much information regarding current situation so we can assess a projected income for the future; a provisional payment could be paid, and further assessments made during the year

You should send these to the EMA Team.

After you are awarded an EMA

Payment of your EMA can be withheld if your school attendance falls below 100% in any one week. Lateness can also affect payments. If learning agreement conditions are not met, then your EMA may also be withheld.

If you have been awarded an EMA award for the full school year, you are entitled to be off sick for up to 5 days without a doctor's line without it affecting your EMA payments. If you have been awarded an EMA award for half the school year, you are entitled to three days' off sick without a doctor's line. You should inform your school immediately you know you are going to be off, and you may need to provide the school with written reason for being off. Any other absences must be covered by a medical certificate or be authorised by the school.

In service and public holidays are counted as term days attended, and your EMA will be paid for these days.

If your circumstances change

If your circumstances change for any reason you must contact us. If there has been a significant change in financial circumstances from one year to the next, please provide us with previous income and as much information regarding current situation so we can assess a projected income for the future. A provisional payment could be paid, and further assessments made during the year.

Your entitlement to your EMA will not be affected if you move school, provided that you renew your EMA learning agreement with your new school. If you haven't received your EMA, you should, in the first instance, check with the school to see that your attendance has been appropriately updated.

Contact EMA Team

You can get in contact with the EMA team by email at ema@aberdeenshire.gov.uk.