Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance

What is the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance? The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) helps you meet the cost of uniforms and footwear for children going to school. You must be getting a social welfare payment or taking part in a training, employment or adult education scheme. In general, you must be getting an Increase for a Qualified Child with your payment.

Your children must be aged between 4 and 22 on or before September 30, 2016. If they are aged between 18 and 22, they must be in full-time second-level education in a recognised school or college. Also, your total family income must be below a certain level for your family size. The allowance is €100 for eligible children aged between 4 and 11 and €200 for those aged between 12 and 22.

The scheme is open from June 1 to September 30, 2016. The Department of Social Protection pays BSCFA automatically to many customers. This means that they do not have to apply for the payment. If you qualify automatically, you should receive a letter stating when and how your Allowance will be paid.

If you do not get an automatic payment you must apply for the Allowance. If any of your children are aged 18 or over, you must apply for the Allowance for them and supply evidence that they are in second-level education (even if automatic payments have issued for other children in the family).

You can get application forms in all local social welfare offices and Intreo centres, and on the Department’s website, welfare.ie. When a decision has been made on your application, you will get a letter informing you of this and whether a payment has been awarded. If your application has been successful, you will also be told when and where you can collect the payment. If the Allowance is refused, you can ask for a review of the decision.

Further information is available from the Citizens Information Centre below.