Nearly 7% of likely grant recipients yet to finalise claims

Almost 7% of likely student grant recipients have yet to finalise their claims, as a review into the failings of the new application system nears completion.

Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) said it had awarded a grant or paid fees for 37,623 applicants up to last Friday. It was awaiting bank details or confirmation of course acceptance from just over 2,000 more students before they will be paid.

The figures represent about 93% of the 40,500 first-year students expected to benefit from the €360m student support scheme, with just weeks left to the end of the college year.

A spokesman said there were 2,801 applicants from whom Susi is seeking to get either final information or documents to proceed with a claim, or to clarify they are no longer seeking a grant.

An independent review for the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (CDVEC), which runs Susi, began five weeks ago.

It was to have lasted about a month but it is understood that Accenture Ireland consultants are still working on the report, which will be submitted to the VEC and then to Education Minister Ruairi Quinn for possible publication next month.

Susi has been subjected to severe criticism for delays in processing applications; errors in handling students’ documents; and incorrect decisions, after it was set up to replace 66 councils and VECs in the handling of student grants.

While previous grant recipients are continuing to be handled by those bodies, Susi will handle renewals for students it has already awarded grants to for the current academic year, and first-time applicants.

A spokesman said renewals and new applications should be open for submission in mid-May, slightly earlier than the opening of the system last year.

Mr Quinn has previously apologised to students and their families for the delays and difficulties they faced. Most of the initial stages of the application process were handled for Susi by a sub-contracted firm, where many of the issues around mishandling of documents appear to have arisen.

These problems and the question of training of Susi and other staff will be among the key areas to be addressed in the review.

CDVEC has separately sought the support of outside staff who it wants to have on standby in the event of any application backlog arising this year.

However, it says it has agreed new procedures for sharing information with Revenue, Department of Social Protection, and the CAO, which may eliminate the need for much of the paperwork students have previously had to submit.