APPLICATIONS FOR the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance have increased by over 25 per cent on last year and have doubled over the last five years, new figures show.
Almost 185,000 applications were received for the means-tested grant this year, and over €75 million has been paid out. Up to €13 million more may have to be paid out before all applications are settled. The average grant per application, which may include more than one child, has so far been almost €500.
The figures show applications increased by over 37,000 on 2008 and have doubled since 2006, when just over 87,000 applications were received.
Almost 160,000 of the claims have been paid, and a further 25,000 approved claims are awaiting payment.
The highest numbers of applications, over 64,000, were received from the Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow region. So far payments of €25 million have been made to almost 54,000 of those.
The Cork-Kerry area had the second highest number of applications, over 25,000, and almost 22,000 of those have been paid costing over €10 million.
Over 3,000 applications remained to be processed yesterday, with the highest number, over 1,000, outstanding in the Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary region.
The means-tested allowance, which operates from June 1st to September 30th, aims to help low-income families meet the cost of uniforms and footwear for children attending school.
It is also available for over-18s in full-time education who meet certain conditions. The payment for children at primary school level is €200 and for over-12s is €305.
To qualify a couple’s income must not exceed between €563 or €653 weekly depending on the number of children in the family. A lone parent may earn a maximum of between €410 and €500.
The scheme is administered by the HSE and funded by the Department of Social Protection.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Protection said there were still some claims on hand.
While it appeared the estimated expenditure on the scheme “may be less than the financial provision” it was not yet possible to provide final details on the spend.
However, a spokesman for the HSE said the scheme was demand-led and had no ceiling on its budget. There was still work to be done on applications, including on those that had been refused and were being appealed, before all figures were available.
