Education Maintenance Allowance Return 2023-24
Revisions to EMA Return guidance
- Apart from the adjusted EMA return dates there is no change in the 2023-24 EMA Return guidance.
Introduction
- This document contains guidance notes for completing the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Return 2023-24.
About the Education Maintenance Return
- Under the EMA programme, colleges must submit two kinds of returns to SFC:
- Monthly aggregate returns.
- Annual aggregate return (collected in September) that contains individualised information on the students participating in the programme.
- Each return serves two purposes:
- Acting as a data return, giving information on the operation of the programme.
- Acting as a claim form for payments relating to college activity under the programme.
- Both returns allow reconciliation checks to be carried out and will be used to monitor the EMA budget.
- Any queries or correspondence relating to the collection should be made to Michelle McNeill, email: mmcneill@sfc.ac.uk Tel: 0131 313 6662.
Annual aggregate return
- The annual aggregate return is collected for the Scottish Government for reporting purposes.
- Before you can make an individualised return, select the name of the college; the college field will automatically be filled with the college number.
- We do not want student data for anyone that has not received a payment – ONLY include data for those students who have received an EMA payment.
Date Required
- The mandatory data we require in the annual aggregate form is as follows.
- Note: the data fields should match exactly what has been reported in the FES student record and if the return is not submitted in the format as requested it will not be accepted (see Annex A)
| Field | Title | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| A | Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) candidate number | Student’s unique SQA number; if student has no SQA candidate number leave field blank. |
| B | Programme directory number | This number is a unique number in FES which identifies each programme and allows matching to the student FES record. This should be 8 characters in length. |
| C | College Programme ID | Unique identifier for programme(s) as used by the college that the student is enrolled on to and as reported in FES. This should be provided at the course group/period level. |
| D | Student matriculation number | Student’s unique college matriculation number. |
| E | Surname | Student’s surname. |
| F | Full forename | Student’s first name. |
| G | Sex of student | Sex of the student Please select a suitable option from the drop-down menu (Male/Female/prefer not to say/unknown). |
| H | Date of Birth | Student’s full date of birth (dd/mm/yyyy format). |
| I | Home post code | Postcode of student’s permanent home location |
| J | Household income | Combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence of the candidate. |
| K | Level of final EMA payment (£30) | Fixed field – weekly allowance the student is entitled to. |
| L | Mode of attendance | Student’s mode of attendance will be part-time or full-time. Please select a suitable option from the drop-down menu (full-time or part-time). |
| M | Total EMA paid, excluding admin payments (£) | Total amount of maintenance money paid to the candidate excluding the administration fee paid to colleges. |
| N | Total number of weekly payments made to student | Number of weekly payments made (not pounds paid) to the student cumulative of the number of weekly payments received. Again, this should exclude any administration payments. |
| O | Expected total payment (= weeks x level of payment) | Calculated field – expected total payment |
| P | Total error check | Error check – if weeks by payment level does not = total EMA cell will be highlighted red. |
| Q | Student started after 13 January 2023 |
Students who enrolled or became eligible for an EMA after the January return was submitted should be recorded in this return to ensure the administration cost is paid to your college. Please select a suitable option from the drop-down menu (yes or no). |
Returning the form
- Please submit the September aggregate return by 13 September 2024. Ensure you have titled the spreadsheet with ‘EMA 2024’ followed by the college name. Your college MIS staff can upload the file to the SFC Secure Share – CDC site.
- The return should be submitted in the format as requested, if not it will not be accepted and will be returned.
- Please contact Michelle McNeill, email: mmcneill@sfc.ac.uk, if you have any queries about the SFC Secure Share – CDC site.
Steve McDonald
Chief Funding and Information Officer
Annex A: Return Samples
SFC Strategic Plan 2022-27
Building a connected, agile, sustainable tertiary education and research system for Scotland.