Two Galway women have been forced off a Government-supported initiative which aims to encourage lone parents to return to education.
Nicola Larkin (21) and Victoria Smith (19) applied for the Back To Education Allowance (BTEA) this year having secured places in post-Leaving Cert courses in Galway city. There are currently 7,300 participants in the scheme, which is designed to facilitate unemployed people who want to improve their skills and return to the workforce.
Participants receive a standard weekly rate of payment equivalent to the maximum rate of their previous social welfare payment. They may also retain any secondary benefits, such as rent supplements, if approved beforehand.
The BTEA became one of the "savage 16" social welfare cuts last year when the qualifying period was raised from six months to 15 months on unemployed social welfare. In August, Minister for Social and Family Affairs Séamus Brennan reversed this period back to six months.
Ms Smith and Ms Larkin are recipients of the one-parent family payment. Ms Smith, a mother of two, applied for a PLC course in childcare starting last month, while Nicola, who has a child, was accepted for a one-year course in legal secretary skills.
When allowance approval was not received by late last month, both were forced to quit their courses or lose their secondary benefits. They were informed by their community welfare officer, attached to the Health Service Executive, that they risked losing the rent supplement which the executive administers.
The Department of Social and Family Affairs said that under data protection legislation it could not comment on individual cases and had no function in determining or reviewing entitlement to rent supplement. However, "in general, no decision will be made in relation to a person's continued entitlement to rent supplement until a decision is made in relation to the BTEA claim".
