Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance

Important note

Applications for the 2024 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance closed on 30 September 2024.

The 2025 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance will open in June 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 incomefor 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 in second-level education 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

Applications for the 2024 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance closed on 30 September 2024. The 2025 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme will open in June 2025.

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