Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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47. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to expand the back to education allowance course eligibility due to Covid-19 [25010/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Back to Education Allowance provides income support for jobseekers and certain others in receipt of social welfare payments who pursue courses of education at second or third level.

The main focus of the allowance is to assist qualifying applicants to improve their educational qualifications and their prospects of gaining employment.

The Back to Education Allowance has recently been extended as part of the July Stimulus in response to Covid-19. Ordinarily a person must be in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for at least nine months before being eligible to apply for the scheme when pursuing a third level qualification. This nine month condition is now being waived for recipients of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment seeking to return to education. A person in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is required to apply for a jobseeker payment to access the Back to Education Allowance.

The conditions under which the scheme operates are designed to ensure that they address the objective of supporting longer term social welfare customers into employment. The Student Universal Support Ireland grant payable by the Department of Further and Higher Education represents the primary support for persons pursuing education.

Applications for the 2020/21 academic year are currently being processed by my Department, including those from prospective students who have received the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

I trust this clarifies the matter.