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A view inside Trinity College Dublin. Shutterstock

Homeless single mum who secured a place in Trinity has been refused Back To Education Allowance

The Department of Social Protection told TheJournal.ie that the Family Income Supplement, which Erica Fleming receives, is not a qualifying payment for the BTEA.

Updated 12.03pm

A HOMELESS SINGLE mother has been refused the Back To Education Allowance (BTEA) after securing a place on a degree course in Trinity College Dublin.

Erica Fleming received a letter denying her the allowance, which she needs before taking up her place on a Trinity Access Programme.

Fleming and her 10-year old daughter Emily have been living in a hotel for over a year, but she has been denied the grant to return to education, because she has been working part-time.

Yesterday, she received a letter that she is not entitled to BTEA as she is no longer on a qualifying payment. 

In order to qualify, she would have to have been unemployed for 234 days.

“I really am devastated, there’s no words to describe how I’m feeling,” she told TheJournal.ie.

I spoke to an official from the department, and they have told me it was pointless to appeal.

“One policies officer told me before I could get the Back To Education Allowance, as I was on my previous payment for a long time. Now they’re saying I can’t get it.”

Letter A part of the letter Erica Fleming received from the Department of Social Protection. Erica Fleming Erica Fleming

“I’ve always worked but struggle to pay for things on one income,” she added.

I want to educate myself and be a role model for my daughter Emily and to stop needing social welfare.

“I don’t want to sit doing nothing for a year and I don’t understand why they would pay me to do this, but not help me to study?”

IMG_7960 (1)

Department’s response

In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, a spokeswoman from the Department of Social Protection saId: “The Department does not comment on individual cases.”

A support grant is available through the Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi), funded by the the Department of Education and Skills, she said, adding:

The Department of Social Protection does not offer specific supports for students pursuing third level qualifications outside of the Back To Education Allowance (BTEA).

They added that the Family Income Supplement (FIS), which Erica Fleming receives, “is not a qualifying payment for BTEA”.

Stipend

Erica says she needed the €217 weekly stipend from the allowance to support herself and her daughter, otherwise she would not be able to attend the college.

She said the Department of Social Protection confirmed that if she stopped working and transferred to the ‘jobseekers transition’ payment for nine months, she would qualify for the BTEA next September.

“When I saw the letter I was sick,” she said.

I was so angry that because they can’t tick a box beside your name, you can’t get the grant.

Before Joan Burton’s changes to lone parents in July 2015, Erica would have been entitled to the BTEA, as she was on the One-Parent Family Allowance.

Last year however, Erica was transferred to the Family Income Supplement, a payment for low-income households working over 19 hours per week.

TCD Barriers outside Trinity College Dublin. Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

Barriers

Erica had applied to the Trinity Access Programme with the hope of qualifying with a degree from the prestigious Dublin institution, but says her dream is now in tatters.

Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids, a support group, say the decision is proof that the government’s welfare policies are disincentivising lone parents from employment and education.

“This makes no sense at all,” spokeswoman Louise Bayliss said.

“Erica is trying to make a better life for her and her daughter but is constantly facing barriers because of an ill thought activation policy.

Before [Joan] Burton’s reforms, Erica would have been able to access BTEA and now she is being punished because she worked.

“We’ve already shown examples where lone parents are better off financially if they stop working and now the door to education is also being closed.”

Read: Will the government really be able to stop using hotels to house the homeless by next year?

Read: “We’re not going anywhere” – Demonstration held in support of homeless families on O’Connell Street

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    Mute The Guru
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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:43 PM

    I was wondering what Amy Hubermann was thinking of it all. Thank God for The Journal.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 3:26 PM

    @The Guru: Never mind that nobody Barbara S…FFS.

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    Mute Dara Smith
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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:40 PM

    Went into spar for a cup of coffee, the sun was so strong there was people wearing sun glasses outside. When i came out 5mins later there was a hail shower. Mad stuff that coffee

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    Apr 25th 2017, 6:10 PM

    Oh, that was good for a smile at the end of a working day!

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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:43 PM

    April showers bring may flowers

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    Apr 25th 2017, 5:00 PM

    @Alan Carthy: Hope your right Alan we’ve all the baskets done

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    Mute John O'Driscoll
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    Apr 25th 2017, 8:54 PM

    @Alan au contraire. Whan that Aprille with his shoures swete / The droghte of Marche hath pierced to the root…and loads of my bedding plants look frost nipped.

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    Mute The Girl
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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:41 PM

    Then it got sunny, then the hail returned, then rain, then the sun came back…don’t know what is next, cats and dogs?

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    Mute Lily
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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:20 PM

    @The Girl:

    Years ago when roots were thatch, cats and dogs slept in them to keep warm. When it got too wet the cats and dogs would slip out, hence the saying ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’.

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    Mute Paraic McDonagh
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    Apr 25th 2017, 3:36 PM

    @Lily: Yes but where did the expression “It’s p155ing down out of the high heavens” originate.

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    Mute Christine Klein
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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:26 PM

    We have a saying or nursery kind of song in German:
    April, April der macht was er will. Mal Regen und mal Sonnenschein dann schneit es wieder zwischendrein, April, April, April, der macht was er will.
    Translation lol
    APRIL APRIL APRIL DOES WHAT IT LIKES. ONCE RAIN AND ONCE SUNSHINE THEN SNOW IN BETWEEN. APRIL APRIL APRIL DOES WHAT IT LIKES…
    and finishes the sentence in sunshine lol

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    Mute Maurice Quille
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    Apr 25th 2017, 7:30 PM

    @Christine Klein: heil heil heil…ja ja ja

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    Mute niall
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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:33 PM

    Lots if hail, thunder and lightning at the minute. Serious stuff

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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:36 PM

    @niall: are you a bit scared Niall?

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    Mute Rui Firmino
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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:03 PM

    @Captain kirk: thunder and lightening, very very frightening!

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    Mute Gus Sheridan
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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:07 PM

    @Rui Firmino: mid twenties here…..nice

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    Mute Paraic McDonagh
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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:31 PM

    @Gus Sheridan: mid forties here…. So a bit older than you.

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    Mute Rui Firmino
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    Apr 25th 2017, 3:38 PM

    @Paraic McDonagh: Early 40′s here.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:12 PM

    Oops… Someone spilled their Crystal meth all over the road

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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:36 PM

    Looks like Summer’s over. It’s all downhill from here

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    Apr 25th 2017, 4:35 PM

    Only another eight weeks and the nights will be getting shorter.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 3:06 PM

    Amy Huberman giving Flann O’Brien a run for his money there.

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    Mute Pa Cantillon
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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:28 PM

    That Amy Huberman is a hoot.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 2:12 PM

    How dare you be in Portugal!!

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    Mute seamus mcdermott
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    Apr 25th 2017, 3:38 PM

    Thunder and lightning is no lark!
    https://youtu.be/pd_kAMrB1Gs

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    Apr 25th 2017, 8:55 PM

    April is the cruellest month. Eliot was right. Reckon it was too early to put out the sweetpea.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 8:51 PM

    Ne’er cast a clout ’til May is out. Monkey’s not brass but fralsetto today.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 4:20 PM

    Earth is fu*ked up.

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    Apr 25th 2017, 10:53 PM

    @Paul Radburn: Snow in Turkey today and in Germany yesterday?

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    Apr 25th 2017, 6:13 PM

    https://youtu.be/PIjNB_QYiws DUBLIN sleet today with a blue sky in backround

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