Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Brassil for raising this important issue. I acknowledge he raised it earlier today with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, on the Order of Business. As the Deputy knows, under the terms of the student grant scheme, assistance is awarded to students who meet the conditions on funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The assessment of means under the student grant scheme is based on gross income from all sources. Therefore, all income is assessed from the same starting point, eliminating any distortion that might arise from different spending decisions. The means test arrangements of the student grant scheme are applied nationally. In the case of both employed and self-employed applicants, gross income is assessed with certain specified social welfare and health service payments excluded.

The income limits for grant eligibility are increased relative to the number of students in a family applying for a grant. Also, in recognition of the additional cost to parents where more than one person is attending college, an increment for each additional relevant person can be applied to the income thresholds at the rates outlined in the student grant scheme documentation. The maximum increment that can be applied for each additional family member attending college at the same time is €4,830. In this way, the student grant scheme is responsive to the individual circumstances of particular families.

The eligibility of an applicant or the level of the grant awarded may be reassessed by Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, in the event of a change of circumstances in the academic year. The applicant should, in the first instance, contact SUSI and notify it of the change in circumstances.

The Deputy will be aware that the family income supplement provides an income support for employees on low earnings with families. The family income supplement was recently renamed and it is now known as the working family payment, WFP. Under the student grant scheme, the WFP is treated as an income disregard in the means assessment process. It is also included as an eligible payment for the special rate of maintenance grant.

In recognition of the fact that the working family payment is paid to a family as opposed to an individual, a change was made to the 2016 SUSI grant scheme to recognise the presence of a payment even in cases where it is paid to a person whose income is not assessed as part of the means assessment process.

I do not really want to talk about the family in question but the highest income limit for a family of the size the Deputy is talking about is €59,595. I have been advised that the income of the family in question is above this threshold. Therefore, the applicant will not qualify for grant support.

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