Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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167. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of payments made under the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme in 2016; the cost of these payments; the estimated number of individual payments to be made in 2017; and the estimated overall cost of these. [23495/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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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.

End of year records show that under the 2016 BSCFA scheme, payments were made to over 154,000 families in respect of some 283,000 children at a cost of over €39.8 million. The Government has provided €37.4 million for the scheme in 2017. The reduced provision in 2017 arises from a projected decrease in the number of claimants arising from the reduction in the Live Register.

The 2017 BSCFA scheme will operate from June to September. Similar to arrangements in previous years, the majority of the BSCFA payments will be automated with no application form required.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.