Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start school each autumn.

To qualify for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, a person must be in receipt of certain social protection payments or taking part in training, employment or adult education schemes.

The scheme is open for applications from June to September.

In 2021, 137,168 families, in respect of 252,423 children, benefited from the scheme at a cost of €51.74 million.

In 2022 I have increased the rates of payment for each eligible child by €100. This is on top of a budget increase this year of €10 per child, to €260 for children aged 4 to 11 and to €385 for children aged 12 years and over in second level education. The income limits for one parent families were also increased this year to bring them in line with the income limits for two parent families. This has widened the eligibility for that group of customers. I am pleased to have secured €84 million for the scheme this year.

The majority of payments will be paid automatically with no application required by the claimant, these payment will be made to some 120,000 families in respect of approximately 212,000 children during the week beginning 11 July to allow families sufficient time to prepare for back to school.

Families who have not received notification from the Department of an automated payment should make an application online on www.mywelfare.ie if they received a payment last year. The online application is currently opened and the closing date to apply is 30 September 2022.

Applicants outside the normal rules of the scheme may be considered for additional needs payments under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme administered by the community welfare service.