Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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348. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the minimum 12-week wait for teachers providing additional tuition through the summer provision before they receive payment; if her attention has been further drawn to the fact that when payment is received in cases in which they are paid and not paid under primary teachers employment, they are subjected to higher taxation; if her Department has plans to correct this issue given there is already a shortage of teachers wanting to participate in the scheme; and if her Department will improve conditions ensuring these teachers are paid on time and under the correct classification. [57074/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Earlier this year, my Department announced the provision of a significantly expanded summer education programme for pupils with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a COVID-19 pandemic response. I am pleased to say that this has resulted in the biggest ever uptake of the programme during the summer period with the overall number of schools participating rising by 72% and the number of students by 60% over 2020. This is in addition to the supplementary programme run earlier in the year which had over 14,000 applicants.

Our first priority for payment in 2021 was for the supplementary programme, for which claims were paid in August 2021. For the school based element all fully completed claim forms were paid on or before 7th October 2021, which was earlier than the previous year despite an 85% increase in the number of participants.

For the home based element of the prgramme there was a significant increase in the number and complexity of claims involved and while the majority were paid by the 28 October 2021, unfortunately there was a delay in some payments issuing. The remaining fully complete claims will be paid in the next payroll run on 25 November.

Claims are processed and paid when all outstanding queries are fully resolved. Where there are outstanding issues, claimants have been contacted directly with a view to resolving as quickly as possible.

The payment is decided by information provided on the application form in terms of whether a child is at Primary or Post Primary school and what qualification the Tutor has at the time of processing. Any queries in relation to taxation are a matter for the Revenue Commissioners.

I wish to thank teachers and SNAs who participated in the expanded summer programme this year. Issue around payment dates will be taken account of in planning and resourcing next year’s programme.