I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 76 together.
The back to education allowance (BTEA) scheme is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education by enabling eligible people on certain social welfare payments to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held.
A person wishing to pursue BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications among others. A waiting period is considered essential to enable people to engage in job search and consider options available to them. BTEA confers entitlement to income support for an extended period and to avoid distortions due to pull factors to the Live Register for the purpose of accessing schemes of this nature. The qualifying period for the second level option is 3 months (78 days) in recognition of the need for more urgent intervention for this cohort, while the qualifying period for third level courses is 9 months (234 days). A person awarded statutory redundancy may access BTEA immediately, provided an entitlement to a relevant social welfare payment is established.