Written answers
Tuesday, 14 November 2023
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Social Welfare Payments
John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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287. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to state for each category of welfare payment administered by her Department in 2022, the total amount paid in cash; the total amounts paid directly to a bank account; the amounts lodged directly to an account at a post office; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49382/23]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides two main payment options for its customers: payment in cash at post offices or payment directly into customer bank accounts by Electronic Fund Transfer. A small number of ad-hoc payments are also made by cheque.
Based on an analysis of Departmental systems, the table below breaks out the apportioned total value of payments made directly to customers in 2022 by payment method.
| Scheme | Total | Bank Account | Post Office | Cheque |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €000 | €000 | €000 | €000 | |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | 1,136,457 | 538,448 | 595,213 | 2,796 |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 6,564,401 | 4,818,996 | 1,730,486 | 14,919 |
| Widows', Widowers' / Surviving Civil Partners' Pension (Contributory) | 1,725,279 | 1,089,722 | 633,715 | 1,842 |
| Widows', Widowers' / Surviving Civil Partners' Pension (Death Benefit) | 10,718 | 5,548 | 5,127 | 43 |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | 1,641,487 | 641,435 | 982,262 | 17,790 |
| One Parent Family Payment | 613,977 | 385,242 | 228,636 | 99 |
| Widows' Widowers' / Surviving Civil Partners Pension (Non-Contributory) | 12,252 | 7,407 | 4,843 | 0 |
| Deserted Wife's Allowance | 498 | 143 | 355 | 0 |
| Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments | 121,595 | 41,655 | 75,777 | 4,164 |
| Farm Assist | 55,665 | 37,137 | 18,348 | 180 |
| Exceptional and Urgent Needs | 57,664 | 38,260 | 14,099 | 5,305 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit | 475,459 | 280,625 | 188,539 | 6,295 |
| Jobseeker's Benefit Self-Employed | 10,341 | 5,094 | 5,247 | 0 |
| Deserted Wife's Benefit | 63,886 | 26,473 | 37,395 | 0 |
| Maternity Benefit | 263,300 | 263,007 | 0 | 293 |
| Adoptive Benefit | 202 | 202 | 0 | 0 |
| Paternity Benefit | 13,454 | 13,325 | 0 | 129 |
| Parental Benefit | 64,980 | 64,885 | 0 | 95 |
| Health and Safety Benefit | 387 | 387 | 0 | 0 |
| Redundancy and Insolvency Payments | 21,550 | 21,550 | 0 | 0 |
| Covid Related Layoff Payments | 1,155 | 1,155 | 0 | 0 |
| Treatment Benefits | 128,352 | 128,352 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Working Age Supports | 23,266 | 3,557 | 266 | 19,442 |
| COVID-19 - Pandemic Unemployment Payment | 197,202 | 174,718 | 22,482 | 0 |
| Community Employment Programme | 329,016 | 329,016 | 0 | 0 |
| Rural Social Scheme | 48,871 | 48,871 | 0 | 0 |
| TUS - Community Work Placement | 90,178 | 90,178 | 0 | 0 |
| Job Initiative | 11,865 | 11,865 | 0 | 0 |
| Back to Work Enterprise Allowance | 31,943 | 31,627 | 313 | 0 |
| Youth Employment Support Scheme | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Back to Education Allowance | 40,270 | 37,111 | 3,149 | 10 |
| JobsPlus | 4,198 | 4,198 | 0 | 0 |
| Work Placement and Experience Programme | 2,588 | 2,028 | 558 | 0 |
| Other Employment supports | 10,596 | 9,905 | 633 | 0 |
| Disability Allowance | 2,015,920 | 1,231,794 | 778,926 | 5,200 |
| Blind Pension | 12,815 | 8,885 | 3,905 | 0 |
| Carer's Allowance | 993,158 | 676,441 | 314,378 | 2,339 |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 224,476 | 188,059 | 35,830 | 587 |
| Carer's Support Grant | 327,533 | 238,205 | 88,713 | 615 |
| Illness Benefit | 614,072 | 580,141 | 6,978 | 26,953 |
| Injury Benefit | 9,191 | 8,171 | 132 | 888 |
| Invalidity Pension | 765,981 | 645,958 | 119,080 | 943 |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 25,717 | 25,441 | 191 | 85 |
| Disablement Benefit | 69,553 | 60,926 | 2,445 | 6,183 |
| Medical Care | 144 | 123 | 0 | 21 |
| Carer's Benefit | 49,175 | 46,676 | 2,489 | 0 |
| COVID-19 Illness Benefit | 187,110 | 176,771 | 2,126 | 8,213 |
| Child Benefit | 2,286,442 | 1,956,934 | 327,997 | 1,511 |
| Working Family Payment | 361,090 | 359,990 | 1,100 | 0 |
| Back to Work Family Dividend | 11,228 | 11,228 | 0 | 0 |
| Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance | 85,868 | 59,707 | 25,961 | 200 |
| Other Vote 37 funded Child Related Payments | 8,693 | 5,321 | 3,228 | 143 |
| SIF Funded Child Related Payments | 24,149 | 18,140 | 5,382 | 626 |
| Rent Supplement | 75,149 | 62,445 | 9,753 | 2,951 |
| Telephone Support Allowance | 18,381 | 13,209 | 5,164 | 0 |
| Household Benefits Package [Vote 37 + SIF] | 281,512 | 202,304 | 79,085 | 0 |
| Fuel Allowance [Vote 37 + SIF] | 576,402 | 424,986 | 151,416 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous Services funded by Vote 37 | 13,964 | 13,055 | 905 | 0 |
John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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288. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of single people with no dependents who received more than €24,000 in social welfare payments administered by her Department during 2022; to provide a breakdown of those recipients by the total amount received; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49383/23]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In 2022, there were 1,607 single people with no dependents who received more than €24,000 euro in Social Welfare payments. This figure is inclusive of arrears payments which may have related to a period before 2022. Individuals who received any increase for a qualified child or adult have been removed from this analysis. Furthermore, anyone who received Child Benefit, Guardian's Payment (Contributory or Non-Contributory), Back to Work Family Dividend and Working Family Payment have been excluded from this analysis. This figure only includes individuals whose marital status is single.
The breakdown of these individual by the amount that they received is shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Recipients of Social Welfare payments, by payment value.
| Payment value (€) | Recipients |
|---|---|
| 24,000 to <25,000 | 591 |
| 25,000 to <26,000 | 316 |
| 26,000 to <27,000 | 249 |
| 27,000 to <28,000 | 123 |
| 28,000 to <29,000 | 87 |
| 29,000 to <30,000 | 59 |
| 30,000 + | 182 |
| Total | 1,607 |
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