Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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495. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person who has been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance for the past two months, and was previously in receipt of illness benefit for 15 months, will qualify for the October cost-of-living payment, given both are qualifying payments. [42626/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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A 100% October cost of living payment will be paid to recipients of long term social welfare payments on the same basis as the Christmas Bonus.

Illness Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Supplementary Welfare Allowance and Daily Expenses Allowance recipients must have been in receipt of an eligible payment for at least 12 months in order to qualify for a Bonus payment.

Customers in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance who had previously been in receipt of payment on certain other schemes may be entitled to the October or Christmas Bonus where there is a combined total of 312 Claim Paid Days. Time in receipt of Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance or Daily Expenses Allowance can count. Additionally, time spent on an Employment scheme or Training / Education course such as Community Employment, VTOS or with the Education and Training Board may also be considered when establishing entitlement to the Christmas Bonus. These are the only exceptions that establish entitlement to the October or Christmas bonus.

If the Deputy would like to contact my Department and provide details of specific cases, my officials can look into these cases and provide a more detailed response.