Special Educational Needs

Wednesday, 19 May 2021

Questions (136, 137)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Question:

136. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education when school staff can expect to be paid for their work facilitating the supplementary programme. [26750/21]

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137. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education the justification for the delay in payment of school staff for their work facilitating the supplementary programme earlier in 2021. [26751/21]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education

I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 137 together.

In recognition of the fact that remote learning is particularly challenging for children with complex special educational needs, my Department put in place the supplementary programme in February to support the education and/or care needs of pupils with complex needs during the period of extended school closures and phased reopening.

My Department’s approach was intended to be flexible so as to maximise the number of students participating. To this end hours could be used by families at any time before 30 April 2021, including during the Easter holidays.

The programme is structured in similar way to my Department’s home based summer programme. Parents engage either a teacher or an SNA in a private arrangement. When the programme is complete Parents return a payment claim form to my Department.

The closing date for receipt of completed claim forms was 14th of May 2021.

The processing of applications for the Supplementary Programme will be broadly similar to that of the home based summer programme. As with the home based summer programme, there will be a very high volume of claims for the supplementary programme and as such the timeline for payment of teachers/SNAs is similar.

Processing of the applications will commence shortly and payment will issue on a common pay date in of 5th August 2021.

This decision was made after consideration of the high volume of claims to be processed and there are no plans to change from this arrangement at the current time.

The supplementary programme was a new programme established in response to school closures in February, and due to the high volume of claims, this was identified as the payment method.

Question No. 137 answered with Question No. 136.