SVP receiving 30 calls an hour from parents over school costs

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) has said it has been receiving on average 30 calls an hour from parents unable to meet back-to-school costs in recent weeks.

The anti-poverty charity said nearly half of the calls for help were coming from single-parent families.

The SVP and other charities have been warning over the impact of the rising cost of living and high inflation rates on the most vulnerable in society, amid consistent price hikes in food and energy bills.

On a single day in early August, SVP received almost 450 calls from parents seeking help meeting the costs of sending their children back to school.

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Rose McGowan, SVP national president, said parents were telling the charity that after bills were covered families “have little or nothing left to buy food and are struggling to pay for schoolbooks and uniforms”.

“Many parents tell us that they feel they are failing their children by not being able to cover the increasing costs at back-to-school time. This has a huge impact on parents’ mental health and wellbeing,” she said.

Ms McGowan said while an increase in the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance and free school transport had helped this year, families were still under serious pressure.

In some cases, parents reported being asked for €150 contributions from schools on the first day back, which they had been told “everyone has to pay”, she said. This was after many struggling parents already had to cover the costs of books, uniforms, tracksuits and stationery, she said.

Voluntary contribution

Niamh Dalziel, the charity’s policy officer, said SVP was calling for an end to the practice of schools asking for voluntary contributions that parents were required to pay.

“We are asking for the capitation grant to be restored to 2010 levels at a cost of €28 million. This should be a first step in ending the practice of voluntary contribution through an adequate funding system,” she said.

The charity is carrying out research into the impact parents having to pay voluntary contributions had on their household finances, she said.

SVP has called for the Government to take several measures in the upcoming budget to tackle the high cost of education at primary and secondary school level. These included expanding a free schoolbooks scheme to all students at a cost of €40 million, as well as providing support to disadvantaged children in non-Deis schools, which the charity said would cost €4 million.