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EMA delays: what to do

As reported in the press, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is experiencing significant delays in processing education maintenance allowance (EMA) applications.This will mean payment of the EMA will be delayed for approximately 150,000 students.
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The LSC yesterday released a statement saying "all eligible students who apply for the EMA and who may have experienced delays with the processing of their application form will get all the payments for which they are eligible. All payments will be backdated and no-one will miss out."

However, any students facing financial hardship as a result of the delay should contact their college as colleges will now have in place extra hardship grants and loans to support learners in need. 

Additionally, the LSC today confirmed that colleges will be able to access additional funds if needed to cover extra support to students, this is the result of NUS and Association of Colleges lobbying earlier in the week.

For NUS' view on this issue, please visit the media centre.