Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2013
133. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of people who will be affected by the abolition of the back to education cost allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4056/13]
View answerThe back to education allowance (BTEA) is a second chance education opportunities scheme. It is designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education by enabling those in receipt of 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. The BTEA scheme covers a large range of full-time courses of education in approved colleges, spanning basic foundation courses to third level courses across all disciplines.
The numbers availing of BTEA and the associated cost of the scheme has risen dramatically in recent years. Numbers for the current 2012/13 academic year are 25,886 which represents a 191% increase on the 2007/08 numbers. It is estimated numbers pursuing BTEA in the 2013/14 academic year will be similar to this year. Provisional expenditure figures indicate a cost of €199.1m for BTEA in 2012 compared to the position in 2008 where expenditure stood at €77.13m. An estimate of expenditure of €189.3m is provided in 2013.
As the Deputy will appreciate, managing expenditure demands for 2013 and beyond poses difficult challenges and requires a critical analysis of all expenditure items. As part of the recent Budgetary process, the Government considered the resources available to meet expenditure demands across the various schemes and services delivered by the Department in 2013. Budget 2013 introduced the cessation of the €300 cost of education allowance for new and existing BTEA participants from January 1st, 2013. This applies to all courses commencing after this date. Courses that commenced prior to Jan 1st 2013, which have not yet been paid the cost of education allowance may be paid the allowance once it relates to courses commenced prior to 1 January 2013. The BTEA scheme remains an attractive scheme for social welfare recipients who wish to further their education. A significant majority of those entering BTEA are in receipt of the maximum personal rate of payment of €188 per week, which compares favourably with other State funded supports for those pursuing education.
