Back-to-school aid criteria under fire

STRONG criticisms have been made about the strict criteria to qualify for financial help from the state with back-to-school costs.

While the vast majority of the 40% of surveyed parents who had applied to the Department of Social Protection for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) have already been paid, those who were not eligible expressed anger.

“My husband is unemployed and I am on minimum wage, yet we still don’t qualify for the allowance. It’s disgraceful it is so hard to make sure our children are provided for,” wrote one parent in response to the Barnardos school costs survey.

“We applied for the allowance but were over the limit by €3 so were refused. It doesn’t take into account mortgage/rent payments etc, it seems bizarre that this payment cannot be graded,” another parent said.

The Irish Examiner reported this week that payments have sped up immensely since the Department of Social Protection took over the scheme’s running from the Health Service Executive (HSE).

BSCFA payments of almost €60 million have already been made to nearly 130,000 households receiving social welfare payments, most of which had qualified last year. These represent around 80% of the total payments expected to be made this year, compared to less than half of all payments having been made at the same time a year ago.

But Barnardos said that one-parent families who are already vulnerable are at increased risk of poverty by virtue of the fact that income thresholds for the allowance are higher for two-parent homes.

For example, a couple on social welfare with two children can earn up to €593.40 a week and qualify, but a lone parent of two children will only be eligible if he or she earns less than €439.90.

The children’s charity said there is an anomaly, when compared to the family income supplement (FIS), which is available to both lone and two-parent households with incomes of up to €602 a week for those with one child, or different rates depending on the number of children.

“These lower thresholds [for the back to school allowance] can result in many low-income families being ineligible for the BSCFA and plunging them further into debt as they struggle to meet the costs of sending children to school,” said Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay.