Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance

Important note

If you automatically qualify for the 2025 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance payment, you will receive an award notification to your MyWelfare account or by post before the end of June 2025.

If you do not automatically qualify and have not received an award notification by the end of June, you will need to apply for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance online on www.MyWelfare.ie

The closing date to apply for the 2025 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is 30 September 2025.

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is a means-tested once-off payment aimed at helping families with the extra costs of clothing and footwear when children start school each autumn. The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme is open from 1 June to 30 September each year.

To qualify for Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, you must meet the following conditions:

• you must be getting a qualifying social protection payment or participating in an approved employment, education or training support scheme
• you must be getting Child Support Payment (previously known as Increase for a Qualified Child) in respect of each child for whom the allowance is being claimed (except in certain circumstances)
• each child being claimed for must be:

aged between 4 and 17 or

aged between 18 and 22, and returning to second-level education in the autumn

• the assessable income for your household must be within a set income limit
• you and each child in respect of whom the allowance is claimed must be resident in the State

Children between 18 and 22 years old must be returning to second-level education in the autumn to qualify.

Through a matching process in the department, many people will get the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance payment automatically. Award notifications issue to your MyWelfare account or by post in June each year.

If you have not got an award notification for Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance by the end of June, and you satisfy the qualifying conditions, you will need to make an application even if you have automatically got the payment in previous years.

Apply online

The quickest and easiest way is to apply online at MyWelfare.ie. The online application is open from June to September each year.

If you cannot apply online

From June 2025, if you are experiencing difficulties applying online, please contact the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance team on 0818 11 11 13 or 071 91 93318 or email the team at bscfa@welfare.ie and an officer will be able to assist you to apply online or will issue an application form to you in the post.

From June 2025, a PDF version of the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance application form will be available to print and send to the address on the form.

The closing date to apply for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is 30 September of the scheme year.

Operational guidelines describe the processes and procedures that staff in the department follow when carrying out their work.

• Operational Guidelines: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Scheme