MORE THAN 50,000 parents who applied to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance scheme have experienced delays in the processing of claims and may not receive payment until after the school term has started.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) admitted that a backlog has resulted in less than one-third of the applicants being processed. HSE press officer Jerry Mulligan confirmed that the HSE is expecting at least another 130,000 applications before September.
“Everybody at the HSE is doing their best,” he said.
The scheme is provided by the HSE to help low-income families meet the cost of uniforms and footwear for children attending school. It operates from June 1st to September 30th each year.
Figures released to The Irish Timesshow that the HSE has received more than 79,463 applications this year but processed only 25,332 as of July 10th.
With most uniform sales to end in shops around Ireland next week, the HSE anticipates the remaining 54,131 applicants will be paid by the third week in September. Applications currently take an estimated six to eight weeks to process.
A statement from the HSE said that it was “very conscious and aware of the increasing demands being made on the service due to the economic downturn and, in this regard, additional staff have been approved by the relevant departments to enable this priority work to proceed”.
Fine Gael TD Denis Naughten said the delay was going to cost parents involved thousands of euro because they would not get payment until school starts.
By that time, the majority of sales under way at clothing outlets would have ended.
