Irish families on social welfare told to apply for €160 or €285 extra cash before closing date as thousands more qualify
CASH BOOST Irish families on social welfare told to apply for €160 or €285 extra cash before closing date as thousands more qualify
IRISH families on social welfare have been urged to apply for a key €160 or €285 payment.
Thousands more children will qualify for the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance this year after it was extended to include a new group.
3
The scheme runs from June to September each year, with payments beginning in early July
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
3
Applications for the payment will close on September 30
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary confirmed the change in response to a parliamentary question, saying the scheme will now cover children for whom Foster Care Allowance is being paid.
The new move is expected to benefit around 2,300 extra children.
Minister Calleary said: 'Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance eligibility is being extended to include children for whom Foster Care Allowance is being paid.
"This Government acknowledges the important role that carers, including foster carers, play and remains fully committed to supporting them.'
The BSCFA is a once-off annual payment to help parents and guardians cover the cost of clothing and footwear ahead of the school year.
It is worth €160 for children aged four to 11 and €285 for those aged 12 to 22 in full-time second-level education.
Minister Calleary explained that applicants must satisfy several qualifying conditions, including receiving a relevant social protection payment and having a household income within the scheme's limits.
He noted: 'In order to qualify for the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, an applicant must satisfy a number of qualifying conditions, one of which requires the applicant's household income to be within the relevant income limits.
"The income limits for the scheme are increased annually as part of the budget process.'
For 2025, the weekly income limit is €694 for a family with one child.
Major warning over emergency social welfare scam texts as thousands could be targeted
For two children, the limit rises to €756, and for three children it is €818. Families with four children can earn up to €880 a week and still qualify.
The limit is then increased from €880 by €62 for each additional child in the household, providing extra flexibility for larger families.
All dependent children, including those over 18 in third level education, will be counted when applying the income limit.
When assessing income from wages, the DSP looks at income before tax - but PRSI and a standard travel allowance of up to €20 each week is not included.
Savings, investments, shares and property - but not your own home - are also assessed as part of the means test.
Income from certain supports, including Foster Care Allowance, Child Benefit, Working Family Payment and others, is not counted towards the limit.
CLOSING DATE
The scheme runs from June to September each year, with payments beginning in early July.
Applications for the payment will close on September 30.
People have been urged to apply before the closing date if they have applied for a social welfare payment and are waiting for a decision on their application.
They should also apply if they are waiting for a decision on an appeal for a social welfare payment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
22 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Ireland in need of wind and solar farms as coal-burning era ends
Ireland's 40-year-long era of burning coal - the dirtiest fossil fuel imaginable - to generate electricity came to an end in June. That was when ESB announced it had ceased burning coal at its Moneypoint power station in Co Clare, six months ahead of schedule. Throughout those 40 years, the coal was transferred on noisy conveyer belts through what must surely have been the longest, ugliest, sequence of brown tunnels in the country. They ran from the jetty at Moneypoint where the coal ships pulled up, to a huge coal storage yard, and then right into the powerplant and furnaces for generate electricity. Now those conveyer belts have stopped, there's no coal in the yard, the highly credible transformation of Moneypoint into a green energy hub is well underway, and the post-coal era in Ireland has begun. July was the first month, after 40 years that coal has not featured in Ireland's electricity fuel mix. Official figures for the month from Eirgrid show renewable energy is quickly filling the gap left by coal. New milestones were passed last month for the contribution of solar power to Ireland's energy mix. A new record of 798 megawatts of electricity from grid-connected solar farms in Ireland was set. That is four percent more solar power than ever before, indicating that a solar power revolution in Ireland is continuing at pace. Ireland now has over 1.6 gigawatts of solar PV capacity installed. It is the fastest growing renewable electricity source in the country. A new report from the Government Taskforce on Accelerating Renewable Electricity, published this week, said solar power is highly complementary to wind generation, provides a more stable and balanced energy supply over time, and is rapidly transforming Ireland's energy system. The official figures show that close to six percent of all the electricity used in Ireland in July this year was supplied directly from the sun. The fact that so much power from the sun can be harnessed in the Irish climate through photovoltaic panels that have no moving parts, require virtually no maintenance, and are cheap and quick to install is nothing short of a miracle to someone like me who grew up in the age of coal. Imagine that. Six percent of all our electricity from the sun! And we are only at the beginning of this solar revolution. It is mind-blowing really, if we are honest. It shows that the technology required to transform our energy system and make our lives cleaner and better is already here. We just need to enable it, speed it up, and embrace the system transformations required. Unfortunately, however, that is where Ireland appears to be falling behind. We are far too slow at letting it happen. Wind Energy Ireland expressed huge frustration over this same issue this week - the blockage and slow pace of technological enablement and decision making in Ireland. Eirgrid's figures show wind energy supplied 24 percent of electricity last month - a little over four times more than solar power at the height of summer. Ireland reached a major milestone in January this year, with just over five gigawatts of wind generating capacity installed. It was a significant step towards achieving the official target of renewable sources supplying 80 percent of electricity demand by 2030. Currently, taking all 12 months together, wind power alone supplies 35 percent of Ireland's electricity. The official Government target is to have nine gigawatts of wind generating capacity installed by 2030. This is significantly more than the five gigawatts currently in place, so there is no time to waste. More needed from An Coimisiún Pleanála - WEI Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) has been crunching the numbers. They have taken into account the capacity and potential output of wind farms currently under construction, and projects with full planning permission that are likely to be finished and operational by 2030. Their analysis suggests An Coimisiún Pleanála needs to give planning permission for another 4.2 gigawatts of wind farms before the end of next year if the industry is to have any chance of installing the required capacity by 2030. To achieve that, they calculate An Coimisiún Pleanála needs to give approval for 595 megawatts of new wind capacity every three months. That is the pace of approvals it says is needed to achieve the Government's onshore wind target – which, by the way, is the cornerstone of meeting Ireland's legally binding climate obligations. Failure could end up costing the country billions of euros for fines and carbon credits. What is frustrating WEI is that during the last quarter - the three months to the end of June - An Coimisiún Pleanála approved only two new wind farms with a combined capacity of 79 megawatts between them. That is just 13 percent of the volume of approvals needed to keep Ireland on track with its Climate Action Plan. It highlighted also that An Coimisiún rejected planning applications from two wind farms with an estimated combined capacity of 76 megawatts. In addition, another 31 projects totalling 1,643 megawatts were still awaiting decisions at the end of the quarter. WEI's big ask is for extra money from the Government in October's Budget, not to be given to themselves but to be give instead to the planning authorities to speed up decision making. Its Director of External Affairs, Justin Moran, said that at time when Ireland is under threat from tariffs, energy costs and global uncertainty, there is a solution here in Ireland. "Every wind farm through the planning system and connected to the electricity grid, protects Irish electricity consumers and strengthens Irish energy supply," he said. He could very easily have swapped solar farms into that sentence because it is the same story there. Ireland needs more of both - wind farms and solar farms - and it needs them faster, especially now that the post-coal era here has well and truly begun.
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Feeling burned out? Here's how to quit the rat race and fund a micro-retirement
Almost three years ago, Sinéad Cullen was hired to create a wealth management and financial planning business at the Irish division of an international insurance brokerage and consultancy. The financial planner soon found herself working 50 to 60 hours a week.
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Shane Ross: When Dermot Desmond and Michael O'Leary call for MetroLink to be scrapped, they have earned the right to be heard
Who to believe about the long-awaited project — politicians and mandarins or two successful visionaries? Dermot Desmond will be 75 on Thursday. The billionaire financier has been an important player in Ireland's business world for 50 years. Last week, he entered the heated MetroLink debate, signalling his intent to remain at the centre of Irish business for at least another decade. He joined Ryanair's Michael O'Leary in rubbishing the Government's great misnomer, its 'rapid transport' programme. Two of the sharpest minds in the business jungle are suddenly thorns in the side of the Coalition's fuzzy plans for its flagship project.
