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.

More than 9,600 applications were not successful, but nearly half the 1,910 appeals against refusal were successful and 20 more were still pending at the start of this month.

The cost of the scheme has dropped significantly in recent years, having reached €90m in 2011 but fallen to €66m two years ago due to cuts to the allowance rates and eligibility changes.

The Department of Social Welfare paid out €48m in 2013 but up to 13,500 fewer payments were made this year, since parents can no longer receive the allowance for over-18s who are in third-level education.

However, just over 1,500 of those for who the BSCFA was paid were over-18s who were returning to second-level education in September.

Almost 181,000 payments were in respect of those aged four to 11, and 121,773 for 12-to-17-year-olds, bringing the total number of children covered by allowance payouts to 304,305.

The amounts paid this year are unchanged since 2013, €100 for each child in the younger age bracket and €200 for older school children.

Although the total payout was just under €42.585m, the department said it has set aside €44.3m for the scheme in 2015.

“No changes have been made to the scheme for 2015,” a department spokesperson said.

The allowance is designed to contribute towards the cost of school clothing and footwear, rather than meet the full expense for families.

The Department of Education asked all schools to survey parents earlier this year on their views about uniform policies, and whether they should make changes, such as moving to generic uniforms or sportswear which could be bought from general retailers, or to more expensive clothing which can only be bought from specified shops or suppliers.

Last week, it emerged that the cost of third-level student grants this year has gone €13.5m above the allocated budget of €356m.

The rise was partially down to applications being processed quicker than the Department of Education expected, as well as more students than expected qualifying to have their €2,750 college fee paid on their behalf.

The department’s 2015 budget estimate published this week shows that €331.8m is allocaetd for student supports, 10% less than this year’s spend.

However, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan said in October that significant sums would be saved by the splitting over two years of the payment of student contributions on behalf of grant recipients.