Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021
795. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of SUSI applications that were rejected on the basis that the pandemic unemployment payment brought their income over the threshold in each of the past 12 months. [41504/21]
View answerThe principal support provided by the Department in financial terms is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means.
The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine.
As in any statutory scheme, a core principle is that there is consistency of approach and an equitable treatment for applicants as part of the means assessment process. This applies to people who are dependent on different types of social protection payment.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment has been treated as reckonable income since it was introduced in March 2020. Income from the Covid-19 payment therefore has the same standing and is treated in a similar fashion to other Department of Social Protection payments such as Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance.
A very important feature of the scheme that I would point to is the change of circumstances provision. If a student or party to their application experiences a change in circumstances that is not a temporary change and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, they can apply to SUSI to have their application assessed under the change in circumstances provision of the relevant Student Grant Scheme. The income of all parties to the application will be assessed or reassessed based on current income and applicants may also be asked to provide evidence of same. Such a change in circumstances would clearly include no longer being in receipt of a pandemic unemployment payment. Students will no longer receive the PUP from early September, in line with normal circumstances where students do not qualify for unemployment payments while at college.
An applicant can request a review by contacting the SUSI Support Desk at 0761 087 874 or emailing support@susi.ie.
The information requested by the Deputy cannot be provided in the format required. When SUSI assesses an applicant’s reckonable income, the totality of the income is examined. If the total income is found to exceed the income thresholds outlined in the legislation, the applicant is deemed ineligible due to their total income exceeding the income thresholds.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is only one component of an applicant’s total reckonable income and it is not possible for SUSI to determine which component of the income results in the total income exceeding the threshold.
