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Grant Payments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 June 2021

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Questions (408)

Mairéad Farrell

Question:

408. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if the pandemic unemployment payment will be considered as an eligible payment for the special rate of a SUSI grant given that those who applied for jobseekers benefit and allowance in March 2020 were awarded the payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34732/21]

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Written answers

Almost 101,000 applications were received by SUSI for grant support in the 2020/21 academic year. Just over 79,000 applicants were assessed as eligible for grant support with projected total costs of €370 million. Applications for the 2021/2022 academic year are open and to date, we have received over 69,000 applications. Over 41,500 have been approved for grant support.

In relation to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, PUP has been treated as reckonable income since it was introduced in March 2020. Income from the Covid-19 payment has the same standing and is treated in a similar fashion to other Department of Social Protection payments such as Jobseekers Benefit or Jobseekers Allowance. It is important there is a consistency of approach for all students. A student or a family on Jobseekers Benefit or Allowance must be treated the same as a student or a family on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

This is not the first year the scheme has dealt with claims related to the pandemic. Over 10,000 applicants declared a change of circumstance in 2020/21 and some 40% of these related to COVID-19. The scheme has shown a flexibility in addressing these issues.

For the next academic year (2021/22), an application will ordinarily be assessed on gross income from all sources for the period January to December 2020. However, if an applicant or a family member has experienced a change in circumstances during 2021, then they can apply to SUSI for their application to be assessed or reassessed under a change in circumstances. Such a change in circumstances would include no longer being in receipt of a pandemic unemployment payment. The change in circumstance must be likely to continue for the duration of the course or the foreseeable future. This is a well-established procedure.

SUSI has a data sharing agreement with the Department of Social Protection which enables SUSI to check what type of payments grant applicants are in receipt of.

My Department is expecting an increase in the number of applications as a result of Covid and we secured an additional €20 million in Budget 2021.

The number of applications to SUSI, the approved awards, number of appeals and the change of circumstances cases are all carefully monitored on a weekly basis to monitor spend, predict costs and identify trends.

We will continue to monitor this and work with colleagues across Government to ensure the scheme can be fair and responsive to the individual circumstances of applicants.

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