Tens of thousands of parents entitled to receive financial support under the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme are failing to do so, Minister for Social Welfare Séamus Brennan has said.
Announcing the allocation of an extra €8 million in funding, Mr Brennan said yesterday that more than 157,000 students benefited from the "targeted support" scheme last year. The increase brings to €26 million the amount available to help parents with the cost of school clothing and footwear for the coming school year.
"I am very concerned that tens of thousands of families on social welfare payments who may qualify for the scheme appear not to be applying for the financial support, for whatever reason, despite all the publicity and promotion the scheme is given," he said.
"I am appealing to people on welfare or low-income employment to carefully examine the scheme conditions. This scheme is there to help those who genuinely need support in getting their children outfitted for the new school year." Under the scheme, which is administered by the Health Service Executive (HSE), parents get €120 for each eligible child between two and 11, and €190 for each student aged between 12 and 22.
The scheme is designed to help people depending on certain social welfare and Health Service Executive (HSE) payments, or taking part in approved employment schemes or training courses. It is also available to those on low incomes who are getting Family Income Supplement.
Last year, the allowance was paid to 79,107 families with 157,254 students, at a cost of €16.7 million. Some 99,195 of these were aged between 2 and 11, and 51,242 were aged between 12 and 17. A further 6,817 students were aged between 18 and 22.
Other changes to the scheme have seen the amount of additional income which can be disregarded for entitlement to the scheme increased from €50 to €100.