Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 July 2020
240. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the increase seen or expected in the back to school allowance as a result of Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19537/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The Government has provided €152.9m for the scheme in 2020 which operates from June to September.
The allowance is payable for eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a qualified child increase is being paid. It is also payable to those between the ages of 18 and 22 who are in full-time second level education and in respect of whom a qualified child allowance is being paid.
Similar to previous years, the majority of customers are awarded back to school clothing and footwear allowance automatically and notification of the awards issued to these customers in late June. This year 115,000 families have been approved for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance in respect of 211,000 qualified children automatically. Payments amounting to €43m were made to these families in the week commencing 13 July 2020.
This year, the eligibility criteria for back to school clothing and footwear allowance has been extended to include the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment as a qualifying payment for the allowance. Recipients of this payment will also need to satisfy all the other qualifying conditions in order to qualify.
The scheme opened to new applications on 6 July 2020. To date a further 23,500 applications have been received. The comparable figure for applications received in 2019 is 22,000. This represents a year on year increase of 6.8%, however, it is too early at this stage to assess whether this increase is solely as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
The closing date for receipt of applications for this years back to school clothing and footwear allowance is 30 September 2020.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
