Every effort is being made by local authorities and Vocational Education Committees (VECs) to ensure that students get decisions on their grant applications as soon as possible, Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe said today.
He was responding to concerns raised by Fine Gael that students were facing delays of up to four months for a decision on a grant application, due to staffing problems in grants offices and an increase in people seeking such assistance.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said the delays meant students were in danger of dropping out due to financial pressure or “being thrown out for non-payment of the registration fee”. Those in receipt of a grant do not have to pay this fee.
Mr Hayes said staff in VECs were working “flat out” but were not receiving the support they needed.
He said staff should be transferred from different areas within the public service to cover the increase in applications.
The Minister said the awarding bodies (the councils and the VECs) received “an unprecedented number” of applications this year and were still getting late applications daily.
He said he acknowledged the difficulties VECs and local authorities were experiencing because of the recruitment moratorium in the public sector which, “in some instances, is affecting the processing of grants”.
“Our difficult economic circumstances mean tough choices had to be made to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run,” he said.
“It’s inevitable that staffing constraints on public bodies will lead to certain pressures on services. I know, however, that the bodies are endeavouring to ensure that the work associated with the processing of grants be prioritised.”
“I want to acknowledge the efforts of the VECs and local authorities in these challenging circumstances.”
Mr O’Keeffe said a significant number of outstanding grant applications had not been processed in full because they were incomplete.
He said he had asked the Higher Education Authority to request institutions to be “flexible” in respect of the payment of the student services charge for those still awaiting a decision on their grant application.
Mr Hayes said those applying to City of Dublin VEC were experiencing delays of up to 12 weeks in processing applications. “There has been no increase in staff and can only deal with phone queries between 9.30am and 12 noon.”
Kilkenny VEC had received 800 grant applications and that some applications received at the start of September had still not been processed.
Sligo VEC had lost staff and a “heavy backlog means that some applicants will not receive their grant until “after Christmas and well into the New Year”.
Donegal VEC could only take phone queries between 2pm and 5pm due to a large number of applications and a lack of staff, Mr Hayes said.
County Dublin VECH had seen “a huge increase in applications” but had lost staff. Applications submitted in August were still to be processed, he said.
Of these, only Sligo VEC could be contacted for comment today.
A spokeswoman said there were some 900 files to process, compared to 700 last year. She said the body hoped to have corresponded with every applicant at least once within the next two to three weeks. Some applicants, however, had submitted incomplete applications and there were problems processing applications where self-employed people filed late tax returns.