Families get €42.5m for school expenses

The cost of back-to-school payments to families has come in at €5m less than last year after college students were excluded for the first time.

The Department of Social Protection has paid just over €42.5m to 166,433 households under the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

Almost 113,000 of the payments were made automatically to families receiving social welfare, with the remaining 53,589 made to applicants who met the eligibility criteria and had incomes below the threshold.