The Back to Education Allowance Scheme (BTEA) is designed to support second chance education. It enables eligible persons to pursue education and to continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study. The weekly rate of payment is linked to the persons' underlying payment, for example jobseekers allowance, and all budget increases in these rates are applied to BTEA recipients.
Government has provided almost €62 million for BTEA in 2019. This represents a considerable investment in supporting participants to acquire the necessary education and skills to re-enter the labour market.
The following table details the number of students attending 3rd level, supported with a weekly BTEA allowance for each academic year (as of March each year):
Date
|
Third Level Participants
|
2014/15
|
13,106
|
2015/16
|
11,167
|
2016/17
|
8,676
|
2017/18
|
6,681
|
2018/19
|
5,428
|
My Department does not maintain statistics on the number of BTEA participants that do not complete their course of studies.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.