Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection in situations where a candidate does not fulfil the eligibility criteria for back to education allowance, if there is any flexibility to use previous periods of unemployment; if any change is being considered to the guidelines; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41316/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The back to education allowance (BTEA) scheme is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education by enabling eligible people on certain social welfare payments to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held.

A person wishing to pursue a course of study under the back to education allowance scheme will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications among others.

Currently the period for which a person is required to be on a qualifying social welfare payment, such as jobseekers, before assessing the third level option is 9 months (234 days) and 3 months (78 days) for second level option. Periods spent on relevant social welfare payments or on jobseekers/illness benefit credits, that are not broken by more than 12 months (52 weeks), can be used in determining if an applicant satisfies the qualifying period criteria. Persons in receipt of a statutory redundancy payment may be in a position to access back to education more quickly. They can access the scheme immediately, provided an entitlement to a relevant social welfare payment is established prior to commencing an approved course of study and progressing in qualifications.

My Department is currently reviewing a wide range of activation supports available to DSP customers, including BTEA, and it is my intention to canvass the views of stakeholders as part of the implementation process resulting from the review.