The Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills have agreed procedures that ensure that all one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients who are participating in full-time education when their entitlement to the OFP payment ends will be able to complete their course with income support – subject to the normal OFP scheme conditions.
On foot of the July changes to the OFP scheme recipients who are in mid-course, and who are scheduled to transition out of the OFP scheme up to, and including on, 2 July, 2015, can remain on the OFP payment until their course finishes, and then transition to either the JA scheme or the JA transitional arrangement, as appropriate. Those who are also in receipt of the SUSI grant can retain both their OFP payment and their grant, including the maintenance portion of it, until their course finishes – subject to the normal Department of Education and Skills conditions for the grant. These individuals will not have to apply for the Back to Education Allowance.
All customers who are scheduled to transition out of the OFP scheme from 3 July, 2015, onwards, will have a youngest child who has just turned 7 years of age. For that reason, any of these customers who are in mid-course will be moved to the JA transitional arrangement, where they will have 7 years to complete their course. In addition, any SUSI grant recipients within this cohort will have their grant disregarded for means when moving to the JA transitional arrangement.
