Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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129. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No 160 of 9 April 2025, when the report on benchmarking and indexing working age social protection rates will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20505/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 contains a commitment to "Consider and prepare a report for Government on the potential application of the benchmarking approach to other welfare payments".

The roadmap also includes a commitment to develop a benchmarking approach for use in adjusting the value of State pension payments. It is worth noting that indexing weekly social protection rates to only one measure, such as inflation, presents a challenge as it can widen the income gap between those dependent on social protection payments and other people in society.

The smoothed earnings approach proposed by the Department to index the rate of State Pension payments was subsequently endorsed by the Commission on Pensions and addresses this challenge as it links the pension rate to 34% of average earnings, and allows for variation in periods where inflation exceeds earnings growth.

In 2022 the Government decided that the Minister for Social Protection would, in submitting budget options, set out a rate of pension payment calculated using the smoothed earnings benchmark approach as an input for consideration as part of Budget discussions, on an annual basis, starting from September 2023.

Since then, this calculation was prepared and submitted annually to Government, most recently in September 2024, as part of preparations for Budget 2025. Any increases calculated under the smoothed earnings approach may be met, or exceeded, by a combination of rate increases and one-off measures taken by the Government in periods of high inflation.

A report on benchmarking and indexing working age social protection rates is being finalised by my Department. It is currently being considered and will be published in due course.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.