119,000 families get costs support

Almost 119,000 families have received payments from the Department of Social Protection so far this summer to help with their back-to-schools costs.

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance was paid automatically three weeks ago to more than 105,000 households in which 200,000 children qualified.

In addition to the €26.5m which they received, the department has already paid out over €4.1m to a further 13,600 applicants who made claims for the allowance since June — with 1,200, or around one-in-12 applicants unsuccessful.