Hundreds more students in Wrexham to be entitled to education grant

Thousands more learners across Wales will benefit from the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), as an uplift to the claiming thresholds was announced by the Welsh Government.

There are currently around 16,000 students claiming EMA- a grant designed to support students between the ages of 16-18 whose household income is below a certain amount.

The Welsh Labour Government has announced that they are uplifting the household income thresholds, meaning an estimated 3,500 more learners will be able to claim EMA from September 2025.

Wrexham’s Member of the Senedd, Lesley Griffiths has welcomed the announcement saying: “The Welsh EMA offer is breaking down barriers for learners in Wrexham. Everybody deserves equal opportunities to accessing education and providing weekly financial support makes a tangible difference to people’s lives.

“Since 2020, almost 2,000 EMA applications have been approved in Wrexham.

“At £40 per week, the Welsh Labour Government is delivering the most generous offer in the UK and I am pleased this latest announcement will lead to even more learners in Wrexham receiving this money from September.”

EMA can be used to help with education costs such as transport, meals or study supplies.

While Scotland and Northern Ireland offer £30 of EMA a week and the Conservative UK Government scrapped the EMA offer entirely for English learners in 2011, Wales is leading the way by increasing and expanding support for students.

Applications for the new EMA offer will be open in April 2025.