Cowen reminds parents of changes to Back to School Allowance

Local representative and Fianna Fail spokesperson on Social Protection Barry Cowen is reminding parents this week that the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance process is getting underway at the Department of Social Protection. A payment of €200 or €305 is available to parents towards the cost of school clothing and footwear, depending on the age of their children. Approximately €80 million is being provided for the programme and more than 300,000 children in over 160,000 families around the country are expected to benefit from it. Deputy Cowen said that while he knows the school year is only finishing, he wants to remind families of the financial support available to them for preparations for the next school term. "Parents should be aware of changes to the scheme for this year," he added. "The Department, in the majority of cases, will be making the payments automatically. However, if the eligible families have not received letters by June 30th, they can make the applications themselves." Application forms will be available from June 30, and can be obtained simply by texting "FORM BTSCFA" followed by your name and address to 51909.