Written answers

Wednesday, 3 March 2021

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Back to Education Allowance

Photo of Claire KerraneClaire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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555. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she considered waiving the qualifying period for those on jobseeker’s when applying for the back to education allowance as has been done with the pandemic unemployment payment to allow for flexibility in supporting jobseekers, especially young jobseekers in circumstances in which they may not have the qualifying period in supporting their route to education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11743/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) provides income support for jobseekers and certain others in receipt of social welfare payments who pursue full-time 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.

A person wishing to pursue a course of study under the BTEA scheme has to satisfy a number of conditions including being in receipt of a qualified social welfare payment for a specified time period. 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. To qualify for BTEA, a person must be in receipt of a social welfare payment for a minimum period of 3 months if pursuing a 2nd level course, or 9 months prior to the date of commencement of their 3rd level course. Options for part-time study are available to all without a qualification period.

As an exceptional measure, the BTEA was extended in response to Covid-19 where the qualifying period was waived for people coming from the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. There are no plans to further extend this provision.

The objective of the BTEA is to raise the educational and skill levels to enable jobseekers better access to the emerging needs of the labour market in line with Government activation strategy. The BTEA is not intended to be an alternative form of funding for people entering or re-entering the third level education system. The Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant represents the primary support for persons pursuing education.

Any person seeking to return to education should engage with their local Intreo Centre to assess their options.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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