The new academic year 2023/24

Both new and returning learners need to sign a new EMA/WGLG Learning Agreement for each academic year. The EMA/WGLG scheme start date for academic year 2023/24 will be 11 September.

If an application is already approved, learners must sign their Learner Agreement within 10 working days of this date.

If an application is still going through the administration and approval process, learners must sign their Learning Agreement within 10 working days of the application being approved.

You may have learners who'll return to study earlier and have a signed Learning Agreement in place. If so, you can confirm their attendance before 11 September.

For academic year 2023/24, you may continue emailing Learning Agreements to learners if meeting in person is difficult. You should keep all email confirmations for audit purposes. You can find out more information about emailing in the guidance notes on the Learning Services website.

Please also remember to enter your holidays for academic year 2023/24, if you've not already done so. You can find out more information about how to enter your holidays in the guidance notes on the Learning Centre Services website.

How should EMA/WGLG students apply?

New EMA/WGLG students should apply using the paper application form until any further updates are provided to Learning centres on alternative methods.

These are available from the learning centres directly or can be downloaded from the student finance Wales website.

Returning students are not required to submit a paper application. Instead their signed 2023/24 EMA or WGLG (FE) Agreement acts as their application to reapply for support for a further year. Student Finance Wales will have written to returning students during the Spring to let them know the next steps to follow for academic year 2023 to 2024.

Backdated payments for EMA

We've received positive feedback for measures introduced in response to managing the COVID-19, this has led to some improvements. These include extending the application period to qualify for backdated EMA payments from 8 weeks to 13 weeks and implementing electronic signing for EMA and WGLG (FE) Agreements. 

These enhancements will now become standard features of the schemes. Therefore, we expect learning centres to update and maintain their own guidance and policies.

Learning Centre Services website

Please remember that you can find all our guidance documents for EMA on the Learning Centre Services website.

You can find the academic year 2023/24 Learning Agreements and payment information guides on the Learning Centre portal under the downloads section.