Backdated weekly allowance payments

New students must submit their application form to us within 13 weeks from the start of their course. Returning students must sign their EMA Learning Agreement within 13 weeks from the start of their course to have their payments backdated. The start of the course is the date in the Course Start Date field on the Learning Centre Portal.

For first year EMA applicants, the portal will not ask you to enter the date when the student signed their Learning Agreement. It will automatically enter this as the date when you save the agreement on the portal. The system then uses this together with the course start date to determine if first year EMA students are eligible for backdated payments.

For returning students, the portal will ask you to enter the date when they signed their EMA Learning Agreement. You should always go by the signature date rather than the date when you’re entering this on the portal. The system uses the date of the signature together with the course start date to determine if the student is eligible for backdated payments. It is thus very important that you enter this date correctly.

You must avoid any unnecessary delays in confirming EMA Learning Agreements or course start dates, as this will affect backdated payments.