Service standards and service definition for EMA in Wales
Service standards for further education providers
EMA Learning Agreement confirmations
For new students, you must confirm 100% of EMA Learning Agreements within 10 working days of the application being approved, or the EMA start date whichever is later (2nd Monday in September).
For returning students, you must confirm 100% of EMA Learning Agreements within 10 working days from the first full week of the academic year.
We'll contact you every year, usually in August, to tell you the start date of the EMA academic year.
Attendance confirmations
You must submit 100% of attendance confirmations weekly.
The deadline for submitting attendance confirmations for each week is at 5pm the following Wednesday.
Accuracy of attendance confirmations
You must submit at least 99% of 'in attendance' confirmations correctly the first time.
If you do not have all information available when the attendance confirmation is due, you should mark the student as 'not in attendance'. This will help to avoid overpayments to students. If you need to, you can then change the confirmation once you have further information.
Removal of outstanding EMA Learning Agreements
If new students are not returning, you must remove them within 10 working days of the application being approved.
If continuing students are not returning, you must remove them within 10 working days of the first full week of the academic year.
We'll contact you every year, usually in August, to tell you the start date of the EMA academic year.
Service standards for the Student Loans Company
Application processing and notices of entitlement
During peak periods, we must assess 90% of applications within 14 days and 100% within 21 days.
During off-peak periods, we must assess 100% of applications within 7 days.
When we receive a completed application, we must issue a notice of entitlement to the student.
Fortnightly payments to students
We must make payments to students 2 weeks in arrears, on the Monday of each week, with the exception of seasonal holiday periods.
Further education provider enquiries to our Partners Support Desk
During peak periods, we must answer 98% of emails within 10 days and 80% of phone calls within 180 seconds. The rate of abandoned calls must be lower than 10%.
During off-peak periods, we must answer 98% of emails within 4 days and 90% of phone calls within 120 seconds. The rate of abandoned calls must be lower than 5%.
The accuracy must be 95% as identified through quality checks.
View the EMA Wales service standards
Service definition
The service definition explains what you can do in the Learning Centre Portal. It also defines our roles and responsibilities, as well as yours.