Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Question 385: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has plans to allow the back to school allowance to be paid to the self-employed who comply with the requirements of the back to school allowance for the low paid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32552/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but only to provide assistance towards these costs. A person may qualify for payment of an allowance if they are in receipt of a social welfare or Health Service Executive (HSE) payment, or are participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and have household income at below standard levels.

Family Income Supplement (FIS) which is a weekly tax-free payment for families, including one-parent families, at work on low pay is also one of the qualifying payments for the purposes of the BSCFA scheme. This enables families, not normally in receipt of a social welfare or HSE payment to avail of the BSCFA scheme. Self-employed people are not precluded from receiving BSCFA. If a person is self-employed, s/he may qualify for Jobseekers Allowance (JA), depending on the income from their business. As JA is a qualifying payment for BSCFA a self-employed person may then qualify for payment of BSCFA subject to meeting the other qualifying criteria of the scheme.

FIS payments in certain instances are available to self-employed people or the spouses of self employed people, subject to certain scheme criteria being satisfied. Where self-employed people (or their spouses) are in receipt of FIS they too are eligible to apply for payment under the BSCFA scheme.

I consider the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme to be an important support for parents at a time of particular financial strain. I am satisfied that improvements to the scheme in recent years, namely an increase in income limits and an increase in the rates of payment respectively, provide a major boost to meeting the financial costs associated with return to school for those who most need assistance.

Any changes to the structure of the scheme, rates of payment, income limits or amendments to the qualifying criteria would have cost implications and would have to be considered in a budgetary context and in the light of resources available to me for improvements in social welfare payments generally.