Eligible young people are invited to apply for the Education Maintenance Allowance 2025/26.
The grant provides an incentive for young people, aged 16-19 from lower income families, to continue with their post-16 education, either in school or college.
Eligibility for the scheme is based upon the total taxable household income for 2024/25:
• up to £24,421 taxable income for households with 1 dependent child
• up to £26,884 taxable income for households with 2 or more dependent children.
The sum of £30 per week during term-time is paid directly into the young person’s bank account and does not affect the child benefit or other benefits being paid to their parents or carers.
Further information, including full eligibility criteria, is available on the Highland Council website at www.highland.gov.uk/ema
Nominations for the 2025 Local Government Information Unit and CCLA Councillor Awards close at midnight this Wednesday the 11th June.
The awards recognize the hard work and dedication of local elected representatives who have made a tangible impact in their communities.
Nominations in any of the five categories - Community Champion, Leader of the Year, Young Councillor of the Year, Innovator of the Year and Lifetime Legend - should be submitted via the official website www.lugi.org
The shortlisted candidates will be announced in the autumn.
Conservationists have abseiled down the 60-metre Corrieshalloch Gorge in a bid to protect biodiversity in Scotland.
Rope access specialists from the National Trust for Scotland dealt with invasive plants which had grown in crags as part of efforts to tackle invasive non-native species (INNS), under the Trust’s new Plan for Nature.
The plan involves the removal of the six most troublesome non-native invasive plants from its estate - rhododendron ponticum, Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed, salmonberry, skunk cabbages and New Zealand broadleaf - and to gradually remove non-native invasive shrubs where they are protecting gardens from coastal spray.
The project aims to protect native flora from being crowded out of their natural habitats.
