Back-to-school payments due for 380,000 children
The Department of Social Protection paid over €90m last year to 196,000 homes for 384,000 school and college students under the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance.
However, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has slashed the budget to €63.7m. Children aged two or three no longer qualify, and the amount payable has been cut by up to 25%.
The department plans to issue automatic payments on the week starting July 16 to 115,350 families, in respect of 205,125 children, and wrote to those homes a fortnight ago to inform them.
However, almost 55,000 additional families with about 175,000 children are expected to benefit on foot of applications, 16,000 of which have already been received.
The reduced rates includes a €50 cut to €150 for children aged up to 11. The rate for older children, including dependents up to the age of 22 in full-time education, has dropped from €305 to €250.
However, as families face the expense of buying uniforms for pupils at schools that only allow them to be bought from certain shops, Sinn Féin education spokesman Seán Crowe said costs were out of control and needed to be tackled.
“This is a racket,” he said in the Dáil last week. “In some cases, a school jumper costs €75. The same jumper could be bought online for €15 instead of €75.
“Clearly, somebody is making a huge profit off the requirement for jumpers to have a badge or crest.”
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said he supported measures to reduce uniform costs for parents, such as using generic uniforms, or sew-on crests or school badges. He has suggested that parents’ associations put pressure on schools for such policies, but he has no powers to oblige schools to take this approach.
* Forms are available from welfare.ie, social welfare offices, or by texting Form BTSCFA followed by your name and address to 51909.
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