Bulletin for January 2024

Service Review Forums 2023/24

We're planning our 2023/24 Service Review Forums. The forums have always been well attended and we look forward to welcoming you along to one of the events.

We plan on hosting both face to face and virtual forums. We'll send out a save the date email shortly. so please keep an eye out for it.

Bonus allocation

You must allocate 90% of your January bonuses by 26 January 2023. If at all possible, you should confirm all bonuses by the end of January.

If a student has met their objectives, you should allocate their bonus on the Confirm Bonus tab of the Learning Centre Portal. You may want to meet with the student to talk through progress and future goals, but please allocate the bonus as soon as you can.

You should also make an update on the portal for students who have not achieved their objectives. You must arrange meetings with these students to discuss their performance. You should schedule these conversations ahead of 26 January.

Once you've submitted the bonus confirmations, students will receive a text message confirming their bonus shortly before the payments are sent out.

You can find more information in our bonus quick guide on the Learning Centre Services website.

Students can still apply for 2023/24

It’s not too late for students to apply for EMA. Students can apply up until 31 March 2024.

Please encourage any students you may feel are eligible to apply as soon as possible.

Learners can download the application form and guidance from nidirect. 

Coming soon

The 'coming soon' materials for academic year 2024/25 will be available on our Learning Centre Services website during February.

Please consider how best to share these documents in areas your students will see. This could include information websites, social media or information boards.

These materials are a really important part of the promotion of EMA. They'll help students to make informed choices about their future education.

We thank you as always for your continued support in making this information accessible to students.

Attendance confirmations

As the impact of the cost of living continues, it is as important as ever that students receive their EMA payments on time every 2 weeks.

To ensure this happens please confirm attendance on the Learning Centre portal every week. You should submit your confirmations before 5pm on a Wednesday for the previous week.

You can find the payment information guide on the Learning Centre Portal.

LC Portal housekeeping and security

You should expire the accounts of any users who no longer need access to the system. For example, they might have left their job or changed role. This helps to ensure the security of the portal and learner data. You can find more information on the Learning Centre Portal user guide on how to do this.

You should also be aware that only staff assigned as a Primary or Secondary Business Contact will receive our bulletins, please review and update the contacts list accordingly.