Back-to-school: Clothing allowance to increase by €100

THE Government has announced that the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will increase by €100 per child from August.

The school meals programme is also being expanded from September and will include an extra 60,000 children while school transport charges will be lifted for one year.

The new measures will take effect before the Budget, to help families struggling to meet rising costs before the start of the new school term.

In a Government announcement on Tuesday evening, it was confirmed that the back-to-school allowance will increase from €160 to €260 per child aged between four and 11 years.

The payment for children over 11 will increase from €285 to €385.

Some 121,000 children will also benefit from free school transport for the year with 290,000 benefiting from the extended meals programme.

Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said that the back-to-school increase was being made on an “exceptional one-off basis”.

However, the meal programme extension is being introduced on a permanent basis.

Payments of the back-to-school allowance start next week, with the increase amount being made from August.

People in receipt of certain social welfare payments, in approved training/education and below certain income thresholds are eligible for the back-to-school allowance.

While the increase has been welcomed, a number of charities and organisations have highlighted the financial burden families are under at back-to-school time, especially in light of rising costs.

According to organisation OneFamily, there is still a massive gap between what families receive through the allowance and what the actual cost of returning to school is.

Sinn Fein has also proposed extending the back-to-school allowance to another half a million children by increasing the threshold for lower income households.

Learn more about the back-to-school allowance on mywelfare.ie HERE.