Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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531. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of increasing the back to school clothing and footwear allowance by €50 per child. [27523/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, 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. The Government has provided €49.5 million for the scheme in 2018 which will operate from June to September. The rate of payment in 2017 was increased by 25% to €125 in respect of children aged 4 to 11 years and €250 for children aged 12 years and over in second level education. These rates are payable in 2018 for eligible children. End of year records show that under the 2017 BSCFA scheme, payments were made to 151,000 families in respect of over 275,000 children at a cost of €49 million.

Using the total number of children covered by the scheme in 2017 as a basis, the additional cost to increase the BSCFA rates by €50 per child would be €13.75 million. Changes to increase the rate of payment of any scheme administered by my Department would have to be considered in a budgetary context.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.