As many as 1.8 million people will receive increases of as much as €5 a week to their welfare payments by the end of this week, as measures first announced in last October’s budget start to kick in.
According to the Department of Social Protection, some 1.3 million social welfare recipients and a further 560,000 dependants will benefit from the increases.
The biggest increase, of €5 a week or €260 a year, will go to a host of recipients, including pensioners, lone parents, jobseekers, carers, people with disabilities, widows, and people on employment programmes. The move means that the state pension will rise to €243.30 a week. There will also be a € 5 increase in the maximum rate of all weekly payments for younger jobseekers aged 26 or younger who are on reduced rates, most of whom are living with their families. Maternity benefit will also go up by €5 a week to €240, as will illness benefit, up to €198 a week.
"The increases in the basic rate for pension payments in Budget 2017 and Budget 2018 is 4.3 per cent. The basic rate increase for most other welfare payments over the two-year period is 5.3 per cent. These increases exceed the Programme for Government commitment to increase rates of payment for pensioners in line with the rate of inflation and also demonstrate a real commitment to improving the standard of living for those who rely on social welfare," said Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty.
Welfare recipients getting reduced rate payments each week and dependent adults will receive proportionate increases. A € 2 increase for each qualified dependent child will be made in all weekly payments for example– the first such increase since 2010 and will directly benefit over 400,000 children.
In addition, the weekly income thresholds for the working family payment will increase by € 10 per week for families with up to three children, which means that families claiming this benefit will be entitled to earn €520 more a year without their payment being impacted. The income disregard for one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s t ransition recipients will also increase, by € 20 to € 130 per week.
The weekly rate for non-statutory schemes, mostly in relation to employment and education supports, are also set to increase this week.
