The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance will be made available again this year, and I urge families who are not automatically entitled to make an application before the August deadline.

 

The support provided through the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance helps parents to help with the cost of the new school year. The Department of Social Protection has allocated €38.8 million for the payments this year.  I remind families who do not automatically receive the allowance that they can still make an application before the August deadline.

 

In 2015 over 153,000 families with 281,000 children benefited from the payments. The payment rate is €100 for each child aged 4 to 11 and €200 for children aged 12 to 22.

 

As in previous years, a large proportion of Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance payments will be fully automated and no application form will be required. Letters will issue in the week ending 10^thJune informing families of their entitlement and notifying them of the expected payment which will be made during the week ending 15^th July.

 

Further payments will be made for applications submitted to the Department of Social Protection.  Application forms will be available in Department of Social Protection offices, via the Department’s SMS form request service and by download from www.welfare.ie from 10^th June 2016. Further details of the application process for the 2016 payments will be made available at a later date.

 

Details

 

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance payment assists eligible categories of people to meet the cost of school clothing and footwear. The Allowance is paid to eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 on or before 30^th September 2016 and between the ages of 18 and 22 on or before 30^th September 2016 who are in full-time second level education.