Tipp TD's concern over SUSI uncertainty for students

Labour Leaser Alan Kelly has called for Minister Harris to fix the problem impacting on many students applying for their college maintenance grant, by ensuring support provided through the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) will not be counted towards students SUSI grant applications.

Deputy Kelly said: “Since last year the Labour Party has flagged a problems with SUSI grants and the PUP that still hasn’t been fixed. Students who have been in receipt of PUP through the loss of work through no fault of their own, are going to be put at a major disadvantage when it comes to their SUSI grant assessment. My colleague Labour Senator Annie Hoey asked Minister Harris to raise this at Cabinet as a matter of urgency last October. Lo and behold here we are seven months later and students and parents could be missing out on their SUSI grants because the PUP pushed them out of their qualifying bracket for SUSI, often by a very small amount.

“Like everyone else, students weren’t able to work because of the lockdown and closure of sectors like hospitality where many would have worked. Part time work in pubs, restaurants, hotels and retail was an essential income support for students in college but wasn’t available over the last few months but many were eligible for the PUP but this will impact on their student grants for next year. This is at a time of record rents and rising costs.

"The government parties needs to wake up and address this issue now before it is too late. It is totally unfair that a student would lose out on a grant that is essential for their attendance at college because they accepted the PUP in lieu of work they lost because of the lockdowns. This same PUP was offered to them by this government without any warning that by accepting it, it could affect their future SUSI applications.

"This was flagged by many people at the time, but Minister Harris has not found a solution to the problem. In response to a parliament question about it from the Labour Party, the Minster restated that students who are affected could appeal through SUSI. I don’t think it is fair to put the responsibility for clearing up this mess on students, or on SUSI for that matter, who have enough to be doing managing the high volume of applications they get every year.

“In the normal course of a SUSI application, a full-time student is permitted to work for the months of June, July and August each year. They can also work for two weeks at Easter and two additional weeks at Christmas. As it stands now here is a €4,500 income disregard applied to any income earned during this period for SUSI grant application assessment purposes. However, students are now being advised that income from social protection (PUP) are not included in this income disregard. This immediately puts students who were in receipt of the PUP this year at a disadvantage when it comes to their SUSI grant assessment and needs to be rectified.”