Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department can make additional needs payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary.
Payments are made at the discretion of the community welfare officers administering the scheme, taking into account the requirements of the legislation, and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.
Additional needs payments may be provided for child related costs, including clothing, but are not separately categorised as back to school costs. In general, additional needs payments are not intended to cover circumstances where responsibility rests with another Government Department or Agency. This includes the purchase of school books, for which assistance is provided for by the Department of Education.
My Department also administers the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme, which operates from June to September each year and 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 allowance was automatically awarded to 119,000 families in June 2022. The scheme opened for applications on 20 June 2022 and, by 6 September 2022 payments totalling €79.5m have been made to more than 141,976 families in respect of 253,558 qualified children. Table 1 represents a breakdown of the number of recipients awarded by county.
Any person who considers they may have an entitlement to an additional needs payment is encouraged to contact their local community welfare service. There is a National Community Welfare Contact Centre in place - 0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Table 1 BSCFA recipients by County
|
County
|
BSCFA recipients 2022
|
Number of Children Benefitting 2022
|
|
Carlow
|
2,436
|
4,324
|
|
Cavan
|
2,466
|
4,554
|
|
Clare
|
3,419
|
6,214
|
|
Cork
|
13,608
|
23,766
|
|
Donegal
|
6,225
|
11,527
|
|
Dublin
|
36,710
|
64,041
|
|
Galway
|
6,589
|
12,144
|
|
Kerry
|
4,553
|
7,797
|
|
Kildare
|
5,836
|
10,327
|
|
Kilkenny
|
2,308
|
4,135
|
|
Laois
|
2,655
|
5,013
|
|
Leitrim
|
1,081
|
2,006
|
|
Limerick
|
6,498
|
11,716
|
|
Longford
|
1,920
|
3,706
|
|
Louth
|
5,643
|
10,105
|
|
Mayo
|
3,900
|
7,270
|
|
Meath
|
5,145
|
9,209
|
|
Monaghan
|
1,986
|
3,819
|
|
Offaly
|
2,614
|
4,733
|
|
Roscommon
|
1,789
|
3,510
|
|
Sligo
|
1,920
|
3,519
|
|
Tipperary
|
5,299
|
9,564
|
|
Waterford
|
4,528
|
7,927
|
|
Westmeath
|
3,159
|
5,754
|
|
Wexford
|
5,672
|
10,090
|
|
Wicklow
|
4,017
|
6,788
|
|
Total
|
141,976
|
253,558
|
