After months of fighting for the exclusion of PUP payments in assessment for SUSI, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Rose Conway-Walsh TD, has received assurance that no students will be denied or pushed out of SUSI for accepting the PUP.

The Minister has confirmed on the floor of the Dáil that all students have the right to reapply based on the 2021 year and have PUP earned by a student excluded from the calculation.

Teachta Conway-Walsh said:

“I welcome the long-awaited clarification that the situation facing students on PUP and applying for SUSI is being addressed.

“In recent months many students and parents were extremely anxious that they would be pushed out of SUSI for accepting the PUP payment.

“Time and time again I challenged the Minister about the injustice of the situation whereby students on PUP would be treated differently than if they were working as normal or under the EWSS, they would be entitled to deduct holiday earnings of €4,500 when applying to SUSI.

“You then had a situation where student and families had exactly the same income from one year to the next but were likely to be rejected by SUSI.

“The Minister has now said that anyone that reapplies for SUSI under the ‘change of circumstances’ mechanism are entitled to be assessed without PUP payments included.

“This is a significant development and needs to be communicated to students and their families. 

“I am glad we now have progress and am awaiting confirmation from SUSI that the system is compatible with Minister Harris’s assurances.  

“No one should be disadvantaged for accepting PUP – including working students.”