Thomas Byrne
Question:244. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason for refusal of the back to education allowance for a person (details supplied). [29460/16]
View answerTuesday, 11 October 2016
Questions (244)
Written answers
The focus of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is on providing income support to jobseekers in improving their education qualifications to access the labour market, meeting emerging skill needs and supporting those who have poor levels of educational attainment.
A person wishing to pursue the BTEA has to satisfy a number of conditions. These include being a certain age, being in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, commencing 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.
Progression is a fundamental condition of the BTEA scheme and state support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one.
The person concerned was refused BTEA on the basis of not progressing in the level of education held by him. The person concerned was notified of this decision on 30 August 2016. Following a review of his circumstances on 7 October 2016, the decision to disallow the claim has been upheld.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.