Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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374. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there have been internal recommendations in his Department to change the criteria for accessing back to education allowance; if he will consider allowing greater access to persons applying to the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16607/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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A person wishing to pursue a course of study under the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) scheme must satisfy a number of conditions. These include age, being in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for a specific period, be pursuing a full-time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and be progressing in the level of education with reference to the National Framework of Qualifications, among others.

The qualifying period for the second-level option is three months while the qualifying period for third-level courses is nine months prior to the date of commencement of the course. A person awarded statutory redundancy may access BTEA immediately, provided an entitlement to a relevant social welfare payment is established.

The BTEA confers entitlement to income support for an extended period while in full-time education. 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.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.