Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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525. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if bank payments for disability, invalidity and pensions will be returned to weekly payments through the bank. [35236/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Social Welfare payments, including disability, invalidity and state pensions, returned to a weekly payment cycle last week. As all payments on any scheme have to be processed in the same way, the change back to a weekly payment schedule applied to all payment methods, whether by collecting cash at the post office or depositing money directly into a bank account.

Fortnightly payments were introduced by my Department to assist with social distancing measures in the context of the current pandemic. An unintended consequence of this decision was the difficulty experienced by many people in trying to manage money on a fortnightly basis.

In this context, I announced on the 12th of October that all weekly social welfare payments which had been moved to a fortnightly schedule from the end of March would be fully restored to being paid weekly with effect from Monday, 2nd November 2020.

Any customer who wishes to continue to collect their payment on a fortnightly payment can do so.