Back to School allowance delays
Deputy Brady complained that many families were still waiting on back to school clothing and footwear allowance decisions. The Minister said the scheme operated as it had in previous years, many families were automatically included, and payments were still within the normal window.
As of 5 September 2018, when the school year was recommenced in most schools, 10,470 people were waiting on a decision on their application for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance. Over the summer, people waiting on a decision had been unable to talk to anyone within the Department regarding the status of their application because all the phone lines were down. The Minister blamed these delays on huge volumes of applications. I find it bizarre that she thinks this is unexpected. The Department and the Minister are aware of the huge volume of applications annually. Many families in serious financial difficulty have had to start the school year having had to visit loan sharks in many cases to secure funding to put their children through school. Can we get an update as to where those applications are and what went on within the Department? An apology is due to those 10,470 people who submitted applications with no decisions yet made.
Comment on this
The Deputy might not be aware but what happened this year is exactly the same as that which happened last year and previous years. It is no different-----
Comment on this
It would be great if the Deputy would let me speak. He has a terrible habit of interrupting. If he asks me a question, I will give him an answer. If he wants to come back in, that is fine. The scheme opens in July. A total of 140,000 families were automatically included in July. They did not even have to make an application because we know exactly who the people we support in the main are. They represented 273,000 individual children who were supported automatically by the State. The scheme does not close until the end of September and this is the same every year. The fact that people are still making applications on 1 September is no surprise because up until the end of September, we were receiving 500 new applications every day. People make their applications at different times for different reasons. It is not for us to prescribe and close the scheme in August to make sure all payments are made by 1 September. People manage their money in different ways but every single person who has made an application and is entitled to the scheme support will get their payment before the close of the scheme at the end of September.