John Cregan
Ceist:726 Mr. Cregan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will review the decision to refuse back to education allowance to a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [25055/03]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
The back to education allowance is a second chance educational opportunities programme designed to encourage and facilitate certain groups, particularly people who have been unemployed for a time and are having difficulty getting back into employment, to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force.
To qualify for participation in the scheme an applicant must, inter alia, be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for at least six months or 156 days, immediately prior to commencing an approved course of study. The person concerned had been in receipt of unemployment benefit for only 135 days and did not, therefore, satisfy the eligibility criteria for participation in the scheme.
The existing eligibility criteria of the scheme are designed to ensure that access is afforded to people with at least a minimum six months of unemployment and there are no grounds for changing the criteria in the circumstances of this case.