Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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794. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the eligibility criteria for the back to school allowance will be extended due to Covid-19 financial restrictions on households. [12904/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, 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 costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn.  The scheme operates from June to September each year.

The allowance is payable in respect of eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a qualified child allowance is being paid and eligible children between the ages of 18 and 22 who are in full-time second level education and in respect of whom a qualified child allowance is being paid. 

To qualify for BSCFA a person must meet a number of conditions namely: 

* The child must meet the age criteria. 

* The applicant must be in receipt of a qualifying payment and getting an increase in that payment for the qualified child (except in certain circumstances) in the period 1 June to 30 September. 

* The assessable income for the household must be within prescribed limits.

* The applicant and the child (or children) in respect of whom the allowance is claimed must be resident in the State. 

This year, the eligibility criteria for the BSCFA scheme has been extended to include the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment as a qualifying payment for the allowance.

Applications which are outside the terms of the BSCFA scheme will not qualify for payment under the BSCFA scheme.  However, individuals who are refused a BSCFA payment may be considered for exceptional needs payments (ENP) under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme by the officers administering this scheme in the normal way.

Any persons who consider that they have an entitlement to an exceptional needs payment should contact the Department’s Community Welfare Service.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.