Bulletin for October 2023

EMA applications for academic year 2023/24 are now available online!

The EMA online application service for academic year 2023/24 is now available!

The online service is available in English and Welsh for students to apply here.

To help promote the online service we've also created posters you can display in areas where students can see them. These are available for you to download and print from the Learning Centre Services website.

WGLG student online applications

Our plans for the new system are ongoing and we aim to introduce an online application service in academic year 2023/24. We’ll send you further updates when they become available.

New students may continue to apply as normal using a paper application which they can download from Student Finance Wales.

Backdated EMA payments

New eligible learners may have EMA payments backdated to the start of their course if Student Finance Wales (SFW) receive their application within 13 weeks of the course start date.

If SFW receive an application more than 13 weeks after the course start date, the learner will only be eligible for backdated payments from the approximate date SFW received their application.

Returning students (auto rollover) must sign the 2023/24 learning agreement within 13 weeks of their course start date to be eligible for full back dated pay.

Adherence to the service standards

The following points in the Service Standards must be followed:

• please check your learners’ information is correct before submitting your weekly attendance confirmations
• please return a weekly attendance confirmation for every student whether they are 'in attendance' or 'not in attendance'
• you must make your weekly attendance confirmations on the Learning Centre Portal before 5pm on Wednesday for the previous week
• please ensure that you submit confirmations of non-attendance and notifications of any removals in plenty of time, as we monitor your returns to ensure compliance with the service standards

If you need further information about submitting your attendance confirmations please take a look at our quick guides on the Learning Centre website.

Performance report

To help you monitor your own performance against the service standards we have reports that you can access on the LC Portal. These reports let you track your performance in real time.

You can find the reports on the home page of the portal - Reports - Service standards.

EMA and WGLG support desk

Our support desk team is available to answer any day to day operational questions you have. This includes queries about individual learners, application processing, payments and the Learning Centre Portal.

You can reach our support desk on 0300 200 4050 (option 5 for WGLG, option 6 for EMA) or by emailing emainfo@slc.co.uk.

Please try to use all available resources before you escalate these types of queries to the Account Management team.