THOUSANDS OF families may not receive the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance before the new term begins because of a major backlog in applications, according to the Society of St Vincent de Paul.
The charity said schools should be prepared to allow pupils to return to school without their uniforms because of the delay in processing payments.
According to the society, there is a risk that many eligible families who do not receive payment in time will fall into arrears with other bills or use moneylenders to pay for clothing and footwear for school.
It says it welcomes the automation of existing payment claims, and notes that 127,000 automated payments have been made since July for existing applicants. However, a further 66,000 applications were made to the Department of Social Protection from July 1st to August 17th.
It says department statistics show more than 45,000 of these still remain to be processed and, as of last Wednesday, claims were continuing to arrive at more than 1,000 per day.
“While recognising that the department has put additional resources in place to deal with the increased number of applications, the SVP is concerned for the many families whose applications will not be processed in time for the reopening of schools,” the society said.
It is asking the department to try to clear the backlog of applications and for payments to be channelled through the Community Welfare Officer Service for people who will not receive their payment in time. “Parents are really panicking over this delay,” the society’s national president, Mairéad Bushnell, said.