Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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99. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will revise the back to education allowance scheme regulations so that the requirement of 234 days receiving welfare payments for the third level option and 78 days for the second level option does not act as a barrier to gaining access to training and education. [33746/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) scheme is a second chance education opportunity scheme designed to remove barriers to participate in second and third level education by enabling those who fulfil the eligibility criteria to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course.

A person wishing to pursue a course of study under the BTEA scheme will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as age, in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for a specific period and pursuing a full time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education with reference to the National Framework of Qualifications among others.

A person in receipt of a jobseeker's payment must be in receipt of this payment for a period of at least 234 days (9 months if signing full-time) for the third level option prior to the date of commencement of the course. The person detailed has a total of 187 days, as this falls short of the 234 required days, the application was refused.

A waiting period is considered essential for the Back to Education Allowance. This scheme confers entitlement to income support for a period of education and therefore it is necessary to target scarce resources. Recipients of Jobseeker's Assistance are required to engage in job seeking while exploring other options available to them.

There are no plans at present to modify the existing BTEA qualifying criteria for persons who are not in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for the required duration.