Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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48. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the annual back to school clothing and footwear allowance by €50 in 2016. [25509/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The Government has provided €44.3 million for this scheme in 2015.

In 2014, BSCFA payments were made to over 166,000 families in respect of over 304,400 children at a cost of €42.5 million. The rate of payment was €100 in respect of children aged 4 to 11 and €200 for children over 12 years in second level education. Payments will be made at the same rates in 2015.

Using the number of children covered by the scheme in 2014 as a basis, the cost of increasing the BSCFA payment by €50 for each eligible child would be approximately €15.2 million. Any changes to the scheme to increase the rate of payment would have to be considered in a budgetary context.