The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The Government has provided €44.3 million for this scheme in 2015.
In 2015, BSCFA payments were made to some 153,000 families in respect of over 290,000 children. The rate of payment is €100 in respect of children aged 4 to 11 and €200 for children over 12 years in second level education.
The cost of increasing the BSCFA payment by €50 for each eligible child, i.e. from €200 to €250 in respect of children over 12 years in second level education and from €100 to €150 in respect of children aged 4 to 11 years, would be approximately €14.5 million. The cost of increasing the payment by €100 for each eligible child, i.e. to €300 and €200 respectively, would be approximately €29 million.
Any changes to the scheme to increase the rate of payment would have to be considered in a budgetary context.