1,200 claims per day for back to school allowance

Claims for Government help with back-to-school costs are coming in at a rate of 1,200 a day and rising — but the payments have been cut by up to half in two years.

The Department of Social Protection expects the number of new applications for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) to significantly increase over the next few weeks.

Up to last week, 30,000 applications were received for processing, and are now coming in at a rate of around 6,000 a week. The section of the department handling BSCFA claims was this week processing claims received just over a fortnight ago.