Firm processing student grants to take on extra staff

The private company, the systems of which are being partly blamed for student grant delays, is taking on a further 50 temporary staff to help try and meet a target to have 33,000 applications decided by Christmas.

Just 4,420 of the 54,000 students who supplied documents with their applications have been paid a grant, up from 3,010 a week ago.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn told the Dáil no cost-benefit analysis was carried out by City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (CDVEC) before awarding a contract for managing documents and running the phone and email helpdesk for applicants.

Such roles were outsourced to the Cork-based Abtran firm by CDVEC, which runs the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) system after winning a Department of Education tender to take over the grants scheme from councils and VECs.

“It was considered that outsourcing was an appropriate solution for the document management process,” said Mr Quinn.

“This was on the basis of the cyclical nature of the administration of the student grants, the volume of applications and the associated requirements for documentary evidence within a tight timeframe.”

However, the subject of most students’ frustration has been around the process of scanning documents sent in support of their claims and linking them to their online files. CDVEC and SUSI officials told the Oireachtas education committee eight days ago documents were not being lost, despite TDs and senators outlining several cases in which paperwork already sent to SUSI was being requested again.

The minister said Abtran had been approved to take on another 50 temporary staff in addition to the 79 currently assigned. Initially, 39 people were engaged on the project.

SUSI, meantime, has almost doubled the numbers it has processing completed applications from 55 to 106.

However, while Mr Quinn has been assured by SUSI officials they would meet the target to have 33,000 people paid their grants by Christmas, he stressed it was SUSI’s certainty rather than his.

Fianna Fáil education spokesman Charlie McConalogue said it was clear the target would not be met without further resources being provided.