Version 1.0 - Last Updated: 29 Oct 2023

Quick guides to help you manage the EMA scheme in Wales

Holiday quick guide


You must enter your school or college’s holidays for the upcoming academic year before it starts in September. This is to ensure that the 'two day rule' for the start of the academic year and returning from holidays is considered. It helps us to decide which weeks qualify as EMA earning weeks and which are holidays.


Start of the academic year and returning from official holidays

To qualify for an EMA payment, students must attend for at least 2 days in the week they return from a holiday or start the new academic year.

If the academic year or new term begins on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, students are eligible for an EMA payment for the first week. They must attend all timetabled classes during these days.

However, if the academic year or new term begins on a Friday, students are not eligible for an EMA payment for the first week.

Example 1

Your school or college opens on a Thursday to staff and on a Friday to students.

This is not a week where students can attend for 2 or more days. It is, therefore, a holiday week.

Example 2

Your school or college opens on a Thursday to students. For administration reasons, you ask some year groups to return on the Thursday and others on the Friday.

Students have the opportunity to attend for 2 days. It is, therefore, an EMA earning week.

This is not a holiday week because it is at your request that certain year groups returned on the Friday rather than the Thursday.

Example 3

Before a holiday, your school or college is only open to students on 2 days. A student does not attend as they have no classes on either of those days due to their usual timetable.

As EMA is based on attendance, and the student has not attended during those 2 days, they are not entitled to EMA for that week.

However, if the student is only timetabled to attend on one of those days and does attend, they’ll be entitled to EMA for the week.


Holiday rules

You must enter your holidays on the Holidays tab of the Learning Centre Portal. 

You must add all your holidays, including summer holidays, for the upcoming academic year before it starts in September. You can add holidays from May. The holidays must be at least 8 weeks in total. 

You can overwrite the 8 week minimum at student level if there are exceptions.

You will not be able to confirm attendance for students until you’ve entered your holidays for the academic year.


How to update holidays on the Learning Centre Portal

  1. Sign into the Learning Centre Portal.

  2. Select Maintenance from the menu bar, then select the Holidays tab.

  3. Go to the Academic year dropdown and select the current academic year. You can update holidays before the new academic year starts.

  4. Select the Holiday checkbox for each week that is a holiday week. Keep in mind that a holiday week is when your school or college is closed to students for 4 or more days.

  5. Once you’ve selected all your holidays for the academic year, select Save.

If you mark a week as a holiday, the system will automatically mark all student attendances for that week as On holiday. Students do not receive EMA payments for the time they’re on holiday.


Holiday error message on the Confirm Attendance tab

If you do not enter at least 8 weeks of holidays, you cannot confirm attendance for any students. If you try to confirm attendance without entering your holidays first, you’ll get this error message:

'You cannot confirm attendance as your school or college has not recorded the minimum (eight weeks) number of holidays for the academic year. Click the link below to see more details or correct the issue on the Maintain Holidays screen.'


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