Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance

im a believer

this is gone beyond a joke now, i sent my form on 3rd of july rang the "helpline" yesterday, my application has not yet been processed. i cant believe it. if this payment does not come through by the end of the week im in big trouble, talk about putting people under pressure! have two girls in secondary school and one in primary, the allowance will hardly cover the costs but im really depending on it. im really panicking now and also wondering how many people will be forced into borrowing?

lucy2010

im a believer wrote: »

this is gone beyond a joke now, i sent my form on 3rd of july rang the "helpline" yesterday, my application has not yet been processed. i cant believe it. if this payment does not come through by the end of the week im in big trouble, talk about putting people under pressure! have two girls in secondary school and one in primary, the allowance will hardly cover the costs but im really depending on it. im really panicking now and also wondering how many people will be forced into borrowing?

My arguement with them was the fact the forms werent logged when they were received. I could cope if i knew they actually had my form & was just awaiting a decision - The fact they cant tell me if they even have it is bothering me more simply as they "lost" my form twice 2 years ago. Why werent they logged like they are for every other SW claim. I met a mum earlier who has 4 kiddies - 2 starting secondary school. She recieved it last 2 years so couldnt understand why not automaticly this year. Sent her forms in June 30th. Was told today they couldnt tell her if was received. A very upset & paniced lady - imagine the costs of sending twins to secondary school.

jayjayxxx

gerryandliza wrote: »

sent in my form first week in july and so did my sister inlaw her form was sent back as she forgot to sign it an she stil recieved her payment about 2 weeks ago. I'm praying its in post office today.

Consider yourselfs very lucky then. All we can do is wait and see, without it our kids cant go back to school:([/QUOTE]

no i havn't recieved mine but sis inlaw did.. got school books today came to 74 euro and that was only half of them. din't know how i will afford the rest of them and uniforms. uniform dress is 38 euro and jumper 40 euro and then school shoes etc.

gerryandliza

jayjayxxx wrote: »

Consider yourselfs very lucky then. All we can do is wait and see, without it our kids cant go back to school:(

no i havn't recieved mine but sis inlaw did.. got school books today came to 74 euro and that was only half of them. din't know how i will afford the rest of them and uniforms. uniform dress is 38 euro and jumper 40 euro and then school shoes etc.[/QUOTE]


I can fully sympathise with you. My eldest son's books alone are E285! Thank goodness my one who is starting secondary school this year can join the book rental scheme - that is E100. This all adds up, having sleepless nights now as dont know where we will get the money from.:(

jayjayxxx

I can fully sympathise with you. My eldest son's books alone are E285! Thank goodness my one who is starting secondary school this year can join the book rental scheme - that is E100. This all adds up, having sleepless nights now as dont know where we will get the money from.:([/QUOTE]

yeh im the same. I don't want kids going to school without and was told if forms went in first week in july we would have it before school started and very annoyed becuse we should have automatically recieved it when everyone else got it.

katy67

Rang the helpline today and told them form was sent in the 1st week. They said it would be 3 weeks before l get anything. I told her i needed the money now as l have 3 kids going to school in 2wks and will have to get a loan from someone or somewhere to get the books and uniforms and that l was very annoyed becuse l should have automatically recieved it when most parents got it last june. She said there was nothing she can do about it, it just the way it is! :mad:

gerryandliza

katy67 wrote: »

Rang the helpline today and told them form was sent in the 1st week. They said it would be 3 weeks before l get anything. I told her i needed the money now as l have 3 kids going to school in 2wks and will have to get a loan from someone or somewhere to get the books and uniforms and that l was very annoyed becuse l should have automatically recieved it when most parents got it last june. She said there was nothing she can do about it, it just the way it is! :mad:

It seems as though they all just gush out this pre rehearsed speech, its pathetic really. No sympathy whatsoever for the kids who wont be able to start school because payments havent been received:mad:

LegacyUser

hi all i have not used this site before but have found it very informative. i am a single mom of 2 teenagers. i sent in my application on july 1st, and had a refusal letter by july 6. they said i was 40 euro over. i mailed a request for a review on july 7th. every year i am usually refused for being just over the limit, but i have always appealed the decision when it was run by the hse, and have always been awarded on hardship grounds. in previous years i would have payment by mid august, giving me time to get uniforms and books.i rang the dept today and a lady said it would be at least the end of september before they get to my review.has anyone had a similar situation where they were refused but got it in previous years under the hardship scheme. i have a daughter starting in secondary school, and dont know what to do

mp22

5. This is not a forum for critiscizing Government Departments or Semi-State Bodies.

5a - 5 includes the policies of the Government Departments of Semi-State Bodies
The above includes the employees of same!!
From here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055070569

gerryandliza

mp22 wrote: »

5. This is not a forum for critiscizing Government Departments or Semi-State Bodies.

5a - 5 includes the policies of the Government Departments of Semi-State Bodies
The above includes the employees of same!!
From here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055070569

I apologise for daring to critise an obviously over worked government department who are undoubtedly doing their best to process all the applications. My comment about their pre rehearsed speech was based on the fact that everytime we ring we have heard exactly the same, word for word from the people manning the phones. I will refrain in the future from making direct criticism of the over worked civil servants in their permanent, pensionable and secure jobs. Please accept my sincere apologies, my comments were obviously born out of the stress and sleepless nights we are having at the moment wondering how we are going to pay for our kids to get back to school next week.

mrsbyrne

gerryandliza wrote: »

I apologise for daring to critise an obviously over worked government department who are undoubtedly doing their best to process all the applications. My comment about their pre rehearsed speech was based on the fact that everytime we ring we have heard exactly the same, word for word from the people manning the phones. I will refrain in the future from making direct criticism of the over worked civil servants in their permanent, pensionable and secure jobs. Please accept my sincere apologies, my comments were obviously born out of the stress and sleepless nights we are having at the moment wondering how we are going to pay for our kids to get back to school next week.

.
Every body on this thread, whether you got your payment or not, should go to their local CIC and ask that a Social Policy Report be submitted regarding the delays in this payment. Go from there to your local TD and ask him/her to look into the delay. Make it clear to him/her that you expect a written reply. The Respite Care Grant is paid each year, in the first week in June, to every single entitled person, promptly and with no application forms. it is therefore entitely possible that the BSCFA could be paid out in the same manner. I dont understand the delay in making the application forms available.

LegacyUser

I just wanted to let all the parents know i just checked my bank account and its in !! no letter yet.i thought id been forgotten about on some pile or lost ! im so relieved ive been praying for the last few weeks not just for myself but for everyone ,i applied the 1st july,i have 16,15,13 yr old, i was having nights waking up thinking where will i get the money i feel like ive been in a bad mood for weeks with worry, so ladies i am still praying for ye hopefully everyone will get it very soon .This thread has been a life saver i thought i was the only one this stressed out.

heathcliff

cars77 wrote: »

I just wanted to let all the parents know i just checked my bank account and its in !! no letter yet.i thought id been forgotten about on some pile or lost ! im so relieved ive been praying for the last few weeks not just for myself but for everyone ,i applied the 1st july,i have 16,15,13 yr old, i was having nights waking up thinking where will i get the money i feel like ive been in a bad mood for weeks with worry, so ladies i am still praying for ye hopefully everyone will get it very soon .This thread has been a life saver i thought i was the only one this stressed out.

So happy for you and hopefully there will be more posts saying people got it!! Fingers crossed for those waiting still
H

gerryandliza

I too am so happy for everyone that has received their payment before school starts. I can only imagine what a relief it must be, as for us who havent, I guess it means more sleepless nights.
.

heathcliff

gerryandliza wrote: »

I too am so happy for everyone that has received their payment before school starts. I can only imagine what a relief it must be, as for us who havent, I guess it means more sleepless nights.
.

Hang on in there, I know the stress of it is terrible, reading these posts today makes me wonder what is it going to be like next year!!! Are we going to be in the same boat again????

patnor1011

can anyone point me to number where to ring? I want to ring them to at least find out if they have my papers

leannejoshua

1890 662244 but dont press any number just wait to be put on to an operator.

lucy2010

patnor1011 wrote: »

can anyone point me to number where to ring? I want to ring them to at least find out if they have my papers

Unfortunately they cant even tell you that - they never logged the applications as they came in so they cant tell. You only hit the system when they decide if they are paying you or not... & I nearly exploded when she said this morning they are dealing with week 1 applications still. Its taken them 6 weeks to deal with week 1 applications.

leannejoshua

OMG !!!! I just got through to a lady that told me that my application has more than likely been lost !! i send my form off the 1st july and she told me that they are now on week 2 applications !!!! so if they had mine it should have been processed by now !! im waitn 7 weeks 2 be told this !!

lucy2010

leannejoshua wrote: »

OMG !!!! I just got through to a lady that told me that my application has more than likely been lost !! i send my form off the 1st july and she told me that they are now on week 2 applications !!!! so if they had mine it should have been processed by now !! im waitn 7 weeks 2 be told this !!

Thats exactly what im afraid of -2 years ago thats what I was told so resent it registered. Then they lost that one too , resent again & they told me whoops sorry its after 30th september - CLOSED ! Was like a lunatic & no I couldnt appeal at as it wasnt based on a decision ...... Getting a bit frantic now!

leannejoshua

lucy2010 wrote: »

Thats exactly what im afraid of -2 years ago thats what I was told so resent it registered. Then they lost that one too , resent again & they told me whoops sorry its after 30th september - CLOSED ! Was like a lunatic & no I couldnt appeal at as it wasnt based on a decision ...... Getting a bit frantic now!

When did you apply ?

lankz92

i think my dad sent mine in round the 10th of july, i know it was sent in at the same time as my grant form which was due the 12th so was before that

still have heard nothing,

just wondering will it just appear in the post office, or will a letter be sent saying its in?

im in drastic need of it for college, have to pay my rent deposite on thursday, and iv only got half, so if it doesnt come in am completely screwed

gerryandliza

leannejoshua wrote: »

OMG !!!! I just got through to a lady that told me that my application has more than likely been lost !! i send my form off the 1st july and she told me that they are now on week 2 applications !!!! so if they had mine it should have been processed by now !! im waitn 7 weeks 2 be told this !!

I too phoned the number on Friday and was informed that they are still busy with week 1 applications I was told that I still have a minimum wait of 4 weeks till we get ours which doesnt help as my kids start going back to school this wednesday:( I dont know what else to do, I cant borrow money so guess my kids are going to be staying at home:mad:

Tinkerbell4484

gerryandliza wrote: »

leannejoshua wrote: »

OMG !!!! I just got through to a lady that told me that my application has more than likely been lost !! i send my form off the 1st july and she told me that they are now on week 2 applications !!!! so if they had mine it should have been processed by now !! im waitn 7 weeks 2 be told this !!

I too phoned the number on Friday and was informed that they are still busy with week 1 applications I was told that I still have a minimum wait of 4 weeks till we get ours which doesnt help as my kids start going back to school this wednesday:( I dont know what else to do, I cant borrow money so guess my kids are going to be staying at home:mad:

Hi,I'm just new to this. I sent mine the 12th July so I'm phoning 2-3 times a week. I desperately need mine too my 2 are going back 1st sept

heathcliff

Tinkerbell4484 wrote: »

Hi,I'm just new to this. I sent mine the 12th July so I'm phoning 2-3 times a week. I desperately need mine too my 2 are going back 1st sept

Judging by the posts there seems to be no logic to the way that they are dealing with the applications ( I posted mine around the 6th/7th July)..Some people are being told that they are only dealing with first week applicants still but I would have been 2nd week, the only thing that they can tell you is if you are in the system so ring and give them your PPS number and then if your application has been dealt with your PPS number will come up on their screen...Hope this helps
H

Tinkerbell4484

heathcliff wrote: »

Tinkerbell4484 wrote: »

Hi,I'm just new to this. I sent mine the 12th July so I'm phoning 2-3 times a week. I desperately need mine too my 2 are going back 1st sept

Judging by the posts there seems to be no logic to the way that they are dealing with the applications ( I posted mine around the 6th/7th July)..Some people are being told that they are only dealing with first week applicants still but I would have been 2nd week, the only thing that they can tell you is if you are in the system so ring and give them your PPS number and then if your application has been dealt with your PPS number will come up on their screen...Hope this helps
H

Hi, I've been getting through to the number but they keep yelling me it hasn't been awarded yet!!! But a friend who posted theirs the exact same day as me got a letter 2 weeks ago asking for more income details as her husband is working

heathcliff

This is what I mean, there seems to be no order/system of how they are dealing with the applications as they are coming in ...All I can say is to keep trying and judging by the amount left (according to the news that is) there is no way that they will be able to get through 45,000 for the first!!!:mad:...All you can do is get what you can for your kids for school and tell the school you will be getting the rest when you are able to...You are not alone being in this situation!!
All the best
H

leannejoshua

Just wondering is there anyone else that sent their form off the 1st July still waiting ??

gerryandliza

leannejoshua wrote: »

Just wondering is there anyone else that sent their form off the 1st July still waiting ??

There are still people waiting who sent their forms in the first week of July. The help line told another person that they were busy with week 2 applications but on Friday they told me they are still busy with week 1.

im a believer

i sent mine in on 2nd/3rd july, rang last friday still not processed, and to make it even worse it takes 3 or 4 working days for payment to go through! so even if it is dealt with on monday morning i wont get payment untill wed or thurs, talk about cutting it fine. ill tell you what though even when everyone gets payment eventually we need to ensure this does not happen next year, living on a low income or on social welfare is hard enough without this extra pressure.