16 Apr 2015, 16:41
The Committee of Public Accounts has today expressed serious concern around the operation of Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) in its first year, highlighted in a report published by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) yesterday (15 April).
16 April 2015
The C&AG’s Special Report No. 88 Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants can be accessed here.
The Special Report examines administrative difficulties encountered in the early years of SUSI. Established in 2012 and administered by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB), SUSI replaced 66 local authorities and VECs and is responsible for processing third level student grant applications.
PAC Chairman John McGuinness says that the Committee will wish to examine the nature of the costs incurred in administrating the scheme, which totalled €7.16 million in 2012. “From the commencement of SUSI up to March 2013, outsourcing costs totalled €5.9 million, compared to a budgeted amount of €1.8 million. So the Committee will be keen to explore how operational difficulties at various stages in the process led to these costs spiralling.”
Deputy McGuinness is also concerned about the quality of the assessments by SUSI in the first academic year of operation: “The C&AG Report notes that, up to June 2013, there was an appeal rate of over 11 percent of initial grant decisions, with a rate of 74 percent turnover on appeal. The Committee is worried about the quality of decision-making within SUSI, and the lack of appropriate oversight, that led to this high rate of successful appeals.”
According to the C&AG, the funding mechanism for SUSI, coupled with the delays in processing applications and making payments, resulted in the CDETB holding large bank balances at end 2012. Deputy McGuinness concludes: “The Committee is acutely aware of the strain these operational lapses placed on students and their families during the academic year 2012/13. We look forward to engaging with senior officials at the Department of Education and Skills and other relevant agencies in the coming months at a formal Committee hearing to examine operational deficiencies at SUSI in detail.”
The PAC is scheduled to host a meeting on SUSI on Thursday 11 June 2015.
Ends
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Committee Membership
Deputies:
Áine Collins, Fine Gael
Paul J. Connaughton, Fine Gael
Joe Costello, Labour Party
John Deasy, Fine Gael
Robert Dowds, Labour Party
Seán Fleming, Fianna Fáil
Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin
John McGuinness, Fianna Fáil (Chairman)
Gabrielle McFadden, Fine Gael
Derek Nolan, Labour Party
Patrick O’Donovan, Fine Gael
John Perry, Fine Gael
Shane Ross, Independent