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Social Protection Minister Joan Burton today announced that over €198 million is being provided for her Department’s Back to Education Allowance scheme (BTEA) for the 2011/12 academic year.

The Back to Education Allowance is a scheme which encourages and facilitates people on certain social welfare payments, such as jobseekers, lone parents and disability, to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force.

Participants in the BTEA scheme are paid a weekly allowance equivalent to the maximum standard rate of the social welfare payment they were receiving prior to starting an approved course of study. In addition to the weekly payment, participants are entitled to an annual cost of education allowance of €500.

In the 2010/2011 academic year, just over 25,000 people participated in the Back to Education Allowance scheme which represented an increase in the region of 20% on the previous academic year.

While a qualifying period on a social welfare payment of 3 months applies for those pursuing a second level course and 9 months for a person pursuing a third level course, a person who has received statutory redundancy may apply immediately provided an underlying entitlement to a social welfare payment exists.

A person who completed earlier year(s) of his/her third level course on a part-time basis and now satisfies the scheme conditions, may apply for BTEA to continue the course on a full-time basis.

Minister Burton said:

Where it applies, people on the Back to Education Allowance scheme may also get an increase in respect of a qualified adult and each qualified child. An annual Cost of Education Allowance of €500.00 is also paid at the start of each academic year.

The road to quality employment starts with self-improvement and development. The Back to Education Allowance is one of a range of supports from my Department to assist people getting social welfare payments to access work experience, education and training. These supports include the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (which encourages people getting certain social welfare payments to become self-employed), Tús (the Community Work Placement Initiative) and JobBridge (the National Internship Scheme). The Back to Education Allowance scheme will help people on welfare payments to participate in full-time education and this will enhance their employment prospects.

Further information and the detailed qualifying conditions for the Back to Education Allowance are available at www.welfare.ie or www.citizensinformation.ie.