THE SOCIETY OF Saint Vincent de Paul’s (SVP) regional offices took, on average, 30 calls an hour from parents who are unable to afford the costs of sending their children back to school this year. 

The calls come as the overall demand for SVP’s services is up almost 20% compared to last year.

A statement from the SVP this afternoon said that almost half of the requests came from one parent families, which they said reflected “the very high levels of poverty experienced among these families”.

Rose McGowan, SVP National President said that while the increase this year in the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BTSCFA) and free school transport was helping families, these measures are only temporary and are “still a long way off meeting the needs of families struggling with school costs”.

“Parents tell us that by the time the bills are paid they have little, or nothing left to buy food and are struggling to pay for schoolbooks and uniforms as well as requests parent contributions.

“Many parents tell us that they feel they are failing their children by not being able to cover the increasing costs at back-to-school time. This has a huge impact on parents’ mental health and well-being,” McGowan said.

Case Studies

Some of the stories SVP members hear when calls are made seeking help include parents being asked for €150 on the first day and being told “everyone has to pay” and that’s after paying for books, uniforms, tracksuits and stationery.

One day in early August, SVP took almost 450 calls, and many explained the guilt and pressure of feeling like they weren’t doing best for their children.

Some examples include: 

The back-to-school allowance didn’t even cover the cost of his books this year. I still have copies, shoes, school bags and uniforms left to buy and that’s without doing the shopping and covering all of our bills.

I haven’t been given enough hours at work this month and so I’m not going to be able to pay the bills and cover all the back-to-school expenses, I’m not entitled to the back-to-school allowance.

All of my partners wages go on rent and are now using our family’s savings to keep on top of energy and food bills. I feel like such a failure but trying to cover all the back-to-school costs has really made things difficult.

Niamh Dalziel, SVP Research and Policy Officer said, “We know from our work in communities that education funding falls short of what is needed to make sure full participation of all children and reduce costs to families at back-to-school time.

“We have set out in our Pre-Budget submission a number of ways that the government should address school costs and provide genuinely free primary and secondary education to all students.”