The back to school cloth ing and footwear – BSCF – allowance scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards in parallel with the supplementary welfare allowance – SWA – scheme. The scheme is designed to assist certain recipients of social welfare and health board payments with the cost of children's school uniforms and footwear. The scheme operates from the beginning of June to the end of September each year. A person may qualify for payment of the BSCF allowance if they are in receipt of a social welfare or health board payment or participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and have household income at or below certain prescribed levels. Details of the income levels, which vary depending on the composition of the household, are shown in the following tabular statement.
Under the scheme an allowance of £63 is payable in respect of qualified children from two to 11 years and an allowance of £78 is payable in respect of qualified children from 12 to 22 years. SWA is subject to a means test and is not ordinarily payable to people in full-time employment. However, special arrangements have been in place for a number of years which enable people participating on approved employment schemes to retain secondary benefits, including BSCF, that were in payment prior to commencing the scheme subject to certain conditions. One of the conditions that must be satisfied in order to retain entitlement to BSCF while participating on an approved employment scheme is that the gross household income must not exceed £250 per week.
The South Western Area Health Board was contacted on behalf of the person in question and has advised that she is a lone parent who is participating on a community employment – CE – scheme. Her weekly income from her one-parent family payment and CE scheme is in excess of £300 per week and, accordingly, her application for BSCF allowance was refused on the grounds of excess means.
Income limits for various household sizes are as follows: