This article is from page 13 of the 2012-08-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
THE Ennis branch of the Citizens Information Service (CIS) say that it has been inundated with calls from parents in recent weeks – who are struggling to afford the cost of preparing their child to go back to school.
The majority of the queries are in relation to families gaining access to the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Grant, with parents in Clare experiencing long delays in finding out whether they are eligible for the grant or not. A large number of familes were denied the grant last year and a backlog has arisen with as many parents are re-applying for the grant this year.
“Indeed there is a lot more people getting in contact with us that there would have been last year and two years ago.
“A lot of people are on reduced working hours or have been dealing with a lay-off and factors like this that have been on the increase,” said a spokesperson from the Ennis Citizens Information Service.
“People are finding it very difficult and we have had to refer certain families to different charities like St Vincent de Paul and other organisations – we have had to refer quite a few families to the different charities.”
Any parent who is in receipt of a social welfare payment is entitled to apply for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear grant.
According to Clare CIS – parents from every walk of life are getting in contact with questions about the grant.
“Our main queries at the moment are concerning the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Grant and we are getting questions from all varieties of parents about this – but particularly from parents who have had a change of circumstance over the past year.
“We are getting a lot questions for Clare parents who have lost a job of who have changed from over payment to another over the last 12 months,” continued the spokesperson.
“A lot of parents were rejected for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Grant last year and a lot of them were onto us.
“But if you have qualified for the payment in recent years it is fairly automatic so there should be much of a delay in these cases.
“But for people who may have come off unemployment and changed maybe to family income supplement, they have to reapply and that is creating quite a lot of a back log.”