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ST VINCENT DE Paul has reported a 20% increase in the number of families looking for help with back-to-school costs.
Over 6,000 calls are expected from parents by the end of August according to the charity.
SVP says that delays in processing the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) by the Department of Employment Affairs have placed an extra pressure on families.
The Department said this week that it was working to clear the backlog of applications.
‘Everything has gone pear-shaped’
One woman told TheJournal.ie that without the help of her parents she would have to turn to SVP as she has been waiting over five weeks to find out if she has even qualified for the allowance this year.
“I was meant to pay the school fees yesterday and I had to ring them to say I wouldn’t be able to pay them until next week or the week after.
“The school is understanding but sometimes if the books aren’t paid for the teachers will actually say it out in front of the class ‘your mammy hasn’t paid for your books’,” she said.
She added that this delay in payment has happened to her for the last few years and that she has just about managed to pay for her children’s uniforms this year.
“Everything has gone pear-shaped, my partner gets paid every two weeks and all his money goes on bills,” she said.
SVP has said that August is the busiest month for school costs and that calls continue to come in this week from worried parents.
“We know this time of year is stressful for most families as they try to meet the costs of uniforms, books and ‘voluntary’ contributions, and that these costs bear most heavily on families with limited incomes,” SVP Social Policy Officer Marcella Stakem said in a statement.
welfare.ie / TwitterCustomer Update: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme(BSCFA) Applications received on 19 July are currently being processed and these customers will shortly receive confirmation of the outcome in writing. https://t.co/iPjAyZsPSc
— Department of Social Protection (@welfare_ie) August 23, 2018
The delay in allowance payments was acknowledged by the Department yesterday which asked customers to “bear with us” as it tries to clear the backlog of applications.
It added that for a period the BSCFA phone line will be closed.
“This means that staff can focus on processing customer claims as quickly as possible and additional staff resources have also been assigned to the section.”
The same woman told TheJournal.ie that she was ringing the Department for over four hours but the only place she could get an answer was on Twitter.
I’m still waiting for them to ring me like they said they would on Twitter.
The department has received approximately 36,000 applications over the summer months (with the bulk of these, about 28,000, received in the month of July).
Book scheme
The charity has also described the current school book scheme as “inadequate”.
“SVP members report that many secondary schools are not offering the scheme and those that have book rental, typically ask parents to pay a significant contribution of between €100 and €200.
“It is estimated it would cost approximately €40m per year to have an entirely free school books scheme. This is very achievable, and a good start would be providing an additional €20m in Budget 2019,” Stakem said.
SVP will present to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills this Thursday to outline its proposals for a funding model that can alleviate pressure on parents.
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Any teacher who shames a child in front of a class because they have not paid for books/materials etc really needs a reality check,a little understanding would go a long way,not to mention that there may be children present who do not even have a home to call their own,shame on any adult who conducts themselves in this manner.
@Honeybee: they need disciplinary action you mean!
@Honeybee: agree but in 15+ years I’ve never known of a teacher doing this and certainly never done it myself. Not saying what was reported didn’t happen but its definitely not common/accepted practice.
@Honeybee: I’ve a pretty dim view of some teachers in some ways, but I don’t believe any teacher would ever do this in front of a whole class. More likely yet another example of the ‘give me money’ class exaggerating or telling outright lies while waiting for another hand out.
@Jumperoo: well that element of the story may well be true but I myself am struggling this year with back to school supplies. As a single parent I am trying to support my children & its extremely difficult. There is an incredible amount of pressure. I’m not looking for more money from anyone but I do want some support & some understanding as to the financial stress it brings.
@Jumperoo: actually just happened today, first day back, in a school in Mullingar. All names of those whose parents hadn’t paid read out in the class.
I’m always of the opinion that if you can’t afford to have kids and pay for things for them and yourself then the best thing to do is not have them.
@Tom Harpur: people may have been in a position to have them at the time, but not any more
@Tom Harpur: If that was the case the human race would have died out a long time ago. Generally we need more kids.
In Poland right now they are paying families to have more kids and for one parent to stay home.
In Ireland we just want foreign workers to come in at a pittance to work towards our pensions. Screw the rest of society.
And what about when people had kids in 1996-2008 when they could well afford them? Are they to be put down?
Is everyone in the country not to have kids unless their incomings and outgoings reach a certain point? Our population would collapse if that’s the view we took.
@Tom Harpur: I’m in agreement with you, though I do imagine that some of these people were able to afford the kids at one time, and have since fallen on hard times.
Lack of ability to afford them is just one reason I don’t plan on ever having children, personally. Life-long lack of desire to ever have them is the other major factor, tbh. And yet, for some reason, I can’t get sterilised. I’ve been told that, at 30, i’m too young and haven’t thought enough about it, because I haven’t met the right man yet.. I’ve known since I was a kid I had no desire to be a mother, and I’ve ended relationships because the guy wanted kids and I didn’t… So, i mean, no, i haven’t found the right man, but only because I can’t find one that doesn’t want kids. Oh well.. Just as well I enjoy my own company ^_^
@Tom Harpur: your opinion is what’s wrong with this world. People fall on hard times that’s what the social welfare system is there for.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: What the hell are you ranting on about?
@Hellenize Dublin: 100% agree circumstances can change.
@Tom Harpur: Circumstances change, things outside your control can dictate the position you find you and family are in. Black and White seems to be your point. A massive Gray area in between. Working people are being squeezed for every cent they have, people on social welfare struggling also. Maybe the Billions stolen from the Irish economy by banks might have something to do with the situation families find themselves in today.
She spent the money on pints
@John Longmore: and you wonder why people call you an as$hole
@John Longmore: exactly. And fags. And lanzarote.
@John Longmore: what money?? She said she doesn’t know if she was awarded the grant yet. U should learn how to read before judging everyone else
My daughter is starting 1st year, ipad (Inc books) cost €938!!, school journal was €51.50 & uniform costs. We both work and budgeted for this year. I don’t know how unemployed parents meet these costs. All schools in my area use ipads now and you have to buy them from wriggle so no shopping around.
@Leah Penrose: €51.50 for the school journal! That is a crazy price and I would refuse to pay it. There’s no justifying that. As for the Ipads- I know quite a few schools are changing to them, but as a teacher I strongly believe that it’s less screen time is needed and more time with books. Book rental schemes should be mandatory in every school in the country. I’m outraged that you had to pay that much
@Leah Penrose: the school journal costs 51.50?
@niamh ryan: in my school the journal was a key record book. You not only took down your homework, but it had sections for absence notes and behaviour notes. So important it had to be hard back. I’ll agree 51€ is too high though
@niamh ryan: yep €51.50 a hardback journal with school rules and a section for notes and record keeping. Very similar to the primary school journal. The school is also a deis school. I don’t know how single parent or unemployed family manage. The ipad fee was inclusive of a €50 late fee too!
@Leah Penrose: The parents should get together and say they all refuse to buy a journal for €51. If no one buys it, what will happen ?
The same for the iPad. I
t seems teachers just want to make their jobs a s easy as possible. They are paid well to teach; so they should just do their job.
@Leah Penrose: iPad? There are much cheaper tablets that do the job. Amazon Fire HD less than €100
Unless the school is paying for the IPad they can F Right Off.
A lot of this is nothing short of snobbery on behalf of teachers. I deal with them everyday in my work and they are the most clueless clots when it comes to pay and tax.
Half the time they can’t even answer the very simple question: “how much is your annual salary?”
@Jimmy O’Brien: I’ve yet to meet anyone who wanted to make their job more difficult! This school with their €50 journal is the exception rather than the rule and the idea is likely to have come from school management rather than teachers. If parents disagree with anything that goes on in a school then they need to express their views through their parents association and bring about change. Pointing the fingers at teachers, who by in large are underpaid for the hours they actually work, is absolutely fruitless.
@Leah Penrose: our school journal fulfills everything above and costs €10. Will you and the school that charges €51.50?
@Graham: name the…apologies
@Leah Penrose: I am actually taken aback. You would get a hardback book in easons for a couple of euro. No matter what was printed in it I could see no justification beyond 20 euro and even that is a stretch. I would definitely challenge the school on the price
@Good Early: So glad I’m not in school now.. I’d flat out refuse to get an iPad.. IMO, for the amount they cost, they’re junk. I had one for a recent job for a while, and it was the most unintuitive thing I could imagine using.
On the flip side, I bought myself a lovely Lenovo android tablet in Argos for about €150. much nice to use, compared to an iPad, and much more intuitive.
The benefit with most Android tablets as well, is that you can expand the memory with SD cards, which you can’t with an iPad.
@Jimmy O’Brien:
“It seems teachers just want to make their jobs a s easy as possible. They are paid well to teach; so they should just do their job”
Firstly the teacher doesnt decide on a school journal! Thats a decision made my the school management not the individual teacher.
Same with Ipads. The classroom teacher has no say in what the school decides.
@Good Early: I am a “clueless clot” about what you mean when you refer to “snobbery on behalf of teachers”. I am appalled that a school would charge that amount for a journal. I couldn’t care less what my students’ journal looks like, as long as there is a section for writing down homework and for communicating with parents and I’m certain all of my colleagues would agree. I don’t see what our supposed lack of knowledge about our pay or tax has to do with any of this either?
@Lorna McC: Also, it’s the management who decides which tablets to use rather than your average classroom teacher.
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: our school charging €55 for journal and ahem photocopying” here in Roscommon as well.
@Nick Drake: care to explain how you came to this conclusion?
I have used Apple products off and on my whole life, and have never found them intuitive. I have always found them extremely overpriced for what they offer as well. Thankfully, I’ve never had to actually pay for any of the products I’ve used -a benefit of growing up with a parent that works in computers was that they would often bring stuff home.
What a joke what ever happened to free education.
Free education???
secondary school here is only looking for 80 euro for the first year school book scheme which is quite reasonable , the local primary is looking for almost as much for a fourth class student at 62.50
Why should “mammy” have to pay for everything ?
I’m a “daddy” and have as much invovlement as “mammy” in our children’s education.
@Jimmy O’Brien: Mammy probably gets the blame though. Especially when you’re dealing with teachers of a certain generation.
@Jimmy O’Brien: Perhaps it’s all “mammy”‘s fault because only “mammy” is entitled to get children’s allowance. “Daddys” are not eligible to apply for childrens allowance.
Sexism still blatently exists in our so-called modern and progressive Ireland.
@Jimmy O’Brien: To expand my point : mammy gets €1680 per child in childrens allowance per year whether she is rich or poor.
But daddy gets nothing even though he may share the cost of books, uniform and school expenses.
And this fact has never been highlighted in the media at this time of year, this year or in any year.
Why ?
@Jimmy O’Brien: thats rubbish jimmy i collect the CA for my 2 kids and have done since 2014 , that was while my partner and myself living together ,
@Jimmy O’Brien: Is the child allowance really only for women? If so, that’s shocking. Disgusting.
That actually turns my stomach, it’s so sexist :( I’m literally sitting here, wishing that you’re wrong. I’d pray, but well… I don’t usually, so no reason to start now!
@Jamie Hannigan: Perhaps something changed between 2011 and when you applied.
I applied for childrens allowance in 2011 and was told that the allowance could only be paid to a mother. My daughther was born in 2016 and the allowance was automatically paid to my wife without any application form.
This is what happened. It’s not rubbish, as you say.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: That is how it was in 2011 anyway. The reason that I applied for it was because my my wife was not an E.U. citizen and the state required lots of documents if she was applying for the allowance. So, I just said that I would apply for it as I was an Irish citizen and it would be simpler. They refused my request stating that the allowance could only be paid to the account of a child’s mother.
These are the facts
@Jimmy O’Brien: Good for you. But there is a sad reality that many so- called ” daddies” are absent, AOL, dont want to know, dont care, unknown whereabouts or simply wont pay up if separated etc.
@Jimmy O’Brien: sorry jimmy still rubbish you stated “Daddys” are not eligible to apply for childrens allowance. , thats not the case as i stated earlier . now maybe there is a reason you were refused CA but your blanket statement is rubbish
@Jamie Hannigan: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Child-Benefit.aspx
If you look at this, you will see Jamie is right. Only paid to the father of the child lives with the father, not the mother. Otherwise paid to the woman in the house.. so yup, sexist.
@Jimmy O’Brien: same thing here, I tried to transfer CA to my Irish husband as I’m a foreign national and wanted to avoid the constant form filling. I was told it could only be paid to the mother. I was quite astounded! This is quite a few years ago mind.
@Mirabelle Stonegate:
My children came to live with me full time last year. The caseworker in Letterkenny rang me twice after I had submitted my Child Benefit application. Although I was polite, she was hostile & rude. When I’d answered her final question, she hung up the phone straight away. She called my ex to verify that the children were living with me, additionally enquiring if the father was ‘all about control’. She stated that ‘we are all women in here’ (the Child Benefit section) and suggested to my ex that she shouldn’t give up CB without a fight & should contact her local TD. When my ex said she hadn’t a clue who the TD is, the caseworker called her back with the name, said she’s a Minister & a mother too & provided tel no.s of the Constituency & Dail offices!
Why doesn’t every school have a book scheme???
@Graham: school book rental schemes are incredibly expensive to set up as the school must buy all the books at once.
They may be some of the last books they ever read. Make them free.
I’ve 2 kids, one starting senior infants and one going into 4th class. Paid a total of 179 euro to the school to cover book rental, photocopying, arts and crafts, insurance and swimming lessons. I spent about 70 euro in total on work books copies and stationery. Reusing school bags lunch boxes and pencil cases from last year. Thankfully we have no uniform.
I’d love to know what school is charging €51.50 for a journal?
And I also very much doubt a child had been told in front of a class this year that their “ Mammy didn’t pay for the books.”
@Bríd Uí Mhaoluala: our school charging €55 for journal and “ photocopying “ so that’s an extra €110 in this house.
What happens to all the children’s allowance money the state pays out each month, or is it all spent on sun holidays
I really don’t understand the headline for this article. Is it meant to be funny or just a needlessly snide remark?
Holidays, smokes and pints are more important for SOME Yes SOME parents. It is the genuine cases we need to hear about not the cases from people that ALWAYS have their hands out.
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour from a teacher who is clearly out of touch with the sad reality of the times we are living in. School books should be supplied free as they are in the UK and other countries. No need for new additions every year, such a scam.
So, the average cost seems to be about a third of the family allowance? Maybe the government could consider swapping it to a voucher type scheme instead of hard cash to hell the parents budget better?
51.50 for a school journal is scandalous !!!
I’ve 3 in primary. With book rental, books, voluntary contribution, journals, photocopying, stationery, the total is just over €530. No uniforms thankfully. We can pay a bit at a time BUT we’ve to pay online, and they charge us a transaction fee each time! About €3 for every €50!
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