Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The current set-up in respect of SUSI applications in cases where parents have gone through or are going through marital separation is that they must provide proof of separation. That is set out in A15 of the application process, which provides for the necessity to provide evidence of separation. It states:

Please provide one of the following as proof of separation or divorce: Separation agreement;

Divorce decree;

Court Ordered Maintenance Arrangement;

Decree of dissolution for a civil partnership.

Evidence from the Department of Social Employment Affairs & Protection confirming receipt of Deserted Wife's Allowance or a One-Parent Family Payment;

If there is no legal agreement, a letter from your solicitor, in which your solicitor confirms separation and/or that legal proceedings are pending...

There are other criteria that a person has to meet as well. We have a very good relationship with SUSI, which I deal with on a daily basis. I can confirm the professionalism of the people we deal with in SUSI. However, what I see is clear evidence that there is a problem. Where there is a family separation and applicants clearly meet the thresholds of the proof set out in A15, having furnished the documents, in a statistically significant number of cases where the application for the grant is refused, the subsequent SUSI appeal fails because SUSI upholds the decision to refuse on the basis that the A15 provisions are not being met. When we subsequently guide the applicant through the student grant appeals board, in most cases the decision to refuse is overturned by the board. There is an issue regarding how the assessors assess the separation elements of a SUSI application. It is our view that they are not adequately taking into account the proof that applicants provide.

I ask that the Department engages with SUSI to conduct a look-back of a parcel of cases where there has been a refusal by SUSI and a subsequent awarding of a grant by the student grants appeals board.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of separations during the pandemic. I am finding that it is often the case with applications for SUSI grants that, where applicants provide proof of separation, they are being put through the wringer and an unnecessary burden and stress is being placed upon them. The proof of this is that, when such applications are refused, a statistically significant number of refusals are overturned by the student grants appeals board. We would like the Department to examine this matter in concert with SUSI.

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