Learners win the right to represent themselves without penalty

Learners will now be able to attend Governors' meetings and take part in National Union of Students (NUS) ‘official business’ without losing their Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), following changes to guidelines on what counts as an ‘authorized absence’.

This comes after extensive lobbying on the part of NUS to alter the guidelines in order that those students who wish to take part in student activities are able to do so without losing their EMA payment.

Previously, some further education colleges classed such activities as ‘unauthorized absences’ which meant learners were unable to claim their payment from the Local Education Authority. However the Government has now altered the guidelines to ensure students will be able to claim their EMA when they take time out for representative meetings or NUS events.

NUS Vice-President (Further Education) Ellie Russell said:

“This is fantastic news and long overdue. As a student officer I attended an NUS Lobby of Parliament on funding, and the person sitting next to me had lost his EMA because his College did not class the event as an authorised absence. That learners were being put in such a situation was patently unfair, with the guidelines penalising rather than encouraging those students who wanted to get politically active and to get involved in how their college was run.

For many, the EMA is an essential source of income and that is why I am so pleased that our hard work has paid off and that learners will no longer have to make difficult decisions about whether to get involved with extra-curricular activities on the basis of whether or not they will receive their payment.”