Grandfather’s anxious wait for Back to School Allowance

AN
UNEMPLOYED Southside grandfather, who is the guardian of three school going
children, has joined the ranks of the thousands still waiting for the Back to
School Allowance.

Despite
applying for the allowance over two months ago, unemployed Kevin Kavanagh (60),
from Neilstown, is still waiting for a payment.

Mr
Kavanagh is currently in receipt of the Jobseekers’ Allowance social welfare
payment.

He
makes a separate claim for children’s allowance for his three grandchildren,
Kian (9), Kaci (7) and Kyle (5), who all attend St Peter the Apostle School in
Neilstown.

Mr
Kavanagh applied for the payment in June but the Department of Social Welfare
branch that processes the applications, which is based in Donegal, has yet to
grant him the benefit.

It
emerged recently that almost 200,000 applications have been made by families
for the Back to School Allowance.

This
is 30,000 more than the Department of Social Protection had budgeted for. The
payment can be worth up to e305 for each child.

The
department said recently that it is receiving around 1,000 applications a day
for the payment and has admitted that it is still trying to process around
40,000 outstanding applications.

Mr
Kavanagh explained that his application for the Back to School Allowance was
initially rejected, despite the fact that he has received the payment for the
last four years.

He
believes they erroneously assumed he was not entitled to it as he is not
claiming for the children’s allowance under his own social welfare claim.

“After
filling the form out and waiting for two months they turned me down,

? he said.

“Then I had to write back into them again and explain the whole situation. I
told them I get a separate payment [the Children’s Allowance] for the kids and
it shouldn’t interfere with any other entitlement.

?

His
application is currently under review but he also noted that the department has
no formal appeals process in place.

“They
way they phrased it on the notification of refusal is that it is not obligatory
for them to give you the payment, so there is no formal appeal against the
decision. You can ask for a review but they don’t even have to give you that if
they don’t want to. I am still waiting for a response from them now on the
review.

?

Mr
Kavanagh said that because he is unemployed and reliant on social welfare
payments, he urgently needs to receive the Back to School payment.

“I
would receive e200 each for the kids if I get the payment,

? he explained.

“It
is a godsend when you get it because you can make sure that they have uniforms
and pay for their books as well.

“I
have the kids for five years now and I have received the payment every year up
to now. I should be getting it but I haven’t got anything yet and school
started last week.

?

Cllr
Matthew McDonagh (SF) called on the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton
TD, to contact those who have not yet received the allowance and assure them
that they will receive it.

“This
is inflicting severe hardship on families across the area,

? he said.

“Many
families simply can’t carry the colossal burden of sending a child to school.
This delay is unacceptable and needs to be dealt with immediately.

?

A
spokesperson for the Department of Social Protection said it did not comment on
individual cases.

However,
she added:

“Some aspects of the applications are inevitably time consuming and
delays can occur where further investigations or third party evidence is
required.

“Delays
can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional
information. For some applicants it could take up to eight weeks from date of
receipt to process their claim.

?