Senator Jimmy Harte has commended the volume of work carried out by Department of Social Protection staff in Letterkenny in dealing with the back to school allowances.
Minister Joan Burton revealed that some 115,000 families encompassing 207,000 children applied for the clothing and footwear allowance.
“As you are aware the BSCFA entitlements of some 115,000 families in respect of 207,000 children issued in the week commencing 15 July, with no application form required.
“Applications from customers who did not receive an automated payment are now being processed from a centralised unit in the Department’s office in Letterkenny.
“Some 50,000 additional applications have been received and an acknowledgement has issued by text to the 94% who requested one. A total of 25,000 manual claims have been processed to date, including all claims received in June,” Minister Burton revealed.
The BSCFA section is processing claims which were received on 19 July at present.
Payment in respect of these claims will issue on a daily basis, so it is expected that the majority of customers will have their payment within five weeks of applying.
Some 74% of customers who are expected to qualify for payment of BSCFA in 2013 have now been paid and a total of €35.8million has already been paid out in respect of this scheme for 2013.
Forms are available from Local Offices, via SMS (text “Form BTSCFA” followed by your name and address to 51909) and on www.welfare.ie. A phone bank is operational to deal with queries on the scheme. The LOCALL number is 1890662244.
The Minister said she will continue to provide regular updates to Senator Harte on the issue.
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