Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the supports available from her Department for single parents aged under 23 years of age and who wish to return to full-time education; if these persons are entitled to rent allowance; if not, the reason for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30821/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation. There are approximately 76,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.In general, persons engaged in full-time education are excluded from receiving rent supplement. However, those participating in approved courses under the back-to-education allowance (BTEA) or the vocational training opportunities scheme (VTOS) may retain entitlement to rent supplement, subject to meeting all other conditions of the scheme. A person wishing to pursue BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions; specifically meet certain age requirements and be in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period.

In general, claimants for BTEA must be at least 21 years of age before the start date of an approved course of study; those on disability-related payments can access BTEA at 18 years of age. Claimants must be at least 24 years of age for an approved postgraduate course. For persons aged between 18 and 21 years of age and have been out of formal education for at least 2 years may also qualify.

The VTOS, operated by Education and Training Boards, is open to those who are over 21 years of age, unemployed and have been getting certain social welfare payments for at least 6 months.