£3m spent on uniform grants

OVER £3m was spent providing pupils with school uniform grants in the Western Education and Library Board (WELB) over the past five years with more grants and greater expendiure than any other board area.

By The Newsroom

Published 20th Oct 2011, 13:00 BST

There were 51,581 successful applications between 2006/7 and 2010/11 with a total spend of £3,059,655.

The amount of successful applications in WELB jumped sharply from 6,991 in 2008/9 to 14,555 in 2009/10 and 15,808 in 2010/11.

Education Minister John O’Dowd explained the figures for 2009/10 onwards included the primary school uniform grant which was introduced by his predecessor.

“In addition, the eligibility criteria were extended in 2010/11, on a phased basis, to include Foundation Stage and Key Stage one pupils in primary schools whose parents were in receipt of Working Tax Credit and who had an annual taxable income not exceeding £16,190. Key Stage 2 pupils became eligible under this criterion from September 2011,” he explained.

John O'Dowd