Irish families are urged to check if they qualify for the back to school allowance as the scheme is extended to PUP recipients

Irish families who qualify for the back-to-school subsidy payment are urged to apply before the closing date next week.

The plan, which has now been expanded to include parents receiving the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment, closes for applicants on Wednesday, September 30.

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The payment of the subsidy for clothing and footwear for going back to school, which is granted to about 115,000 families, is € 150 for children between 4 and 11 years old and € 275 for children over 12 and up to 22 years old.

Individuals ages 18-22 must be in secondary education to qualify.

A parent must be receiving weekly welfare payments or participating in training, employment, or adult education programs to be eligible for the benefit.

And this year, the payment has been extended to parents receiving the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment.

FINANCING

This year € 152.9 million has been made available for the scheme, which is a one-time, resource-verified payment to help families with additional costs as children return to school, up from 53, 7 million euros last year.

Many recipients are paid automatically, with multiple payments made in July.

But families who did not receive the payment from the Department of Social Protection during the summer must apply online, even if they received the payment last year.

Applicants must have a MyGovID and a utility card to request payment online at mywelfare.ie.

Those without a MyGovID should contact the Department’s Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Assignment section by phone at 071 91 93318 or 0818 11 11 13 or by sending an email to [email protected].

Customers who do not have a Public Service Card or who cannot apply online have the option of submitting a paper application form.

Application forms are only available by contacting the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Assignment section.

QUALIFICATION CONDITIONS

To qualify for the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, you must meet the following conditions:

• You must receive a qualifying social protection payment or participate in an approved employment, education or training support program
• must receive an increase for a qualifying child (IQC) in respect of each child for whom the allowance is claimed (except in certain circumstances)
• Each requested child must be: 4-17 or 18-22, and return to secondary education in the fall.
• taxable income for your household must be within a set income limit
• you and each child for whom placement is requested must be residents of the State

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said in August: “I am expanding the back-to-school clothing and footwear subsidy to include parents and guardians receiving the Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment.

“Going back to school can be a time of great financial pressure for many parents and this year brings the additional anxiety created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The allocation for this year’s plan is 152.9 million euros to take into account the increase in the number of families that continue to depend on payment for pandemic Covid-19 unemployment.”

PUP RATE UPDATE

Meanwhile, the new Covid-19 pandemic unemployment pay bands came into effect last week and the maximum pay rate fell from € 350 to € 300.

The puppy will go from two types of payment to three types, depending on the amount of money previously earned.

If a person earned more than € 300 gross per week before the pandemic, they will now receive € 300 per week.

If they earned between € 200 and € 300 gross, they will now receive a payment of € 250 per week.

And if they earn less than € 200 gross per week, the rate will be € 203 per week.

The pandemic unemployment payment rates changed on September 17 and will change again on February 1, 2021 and April 1, 2021.

Recipients of the social assistance payment will see the impact of these changes on their bank accounts as of Tuesday, September 22.

3,600 fewer people received the PUP this week after 6,333 people closed their claim for payment in the past seven days.

206,341 received their payment today, up from 598,000 paid at its peak on May 5.

As part of the July labor stimulus, the decision was made to close the PUP for new entrants as of September 17. But now applications can be submitted until the end of 2020 after a cabinet decision.