Over 1.3 million people to get Budget 2017 increase in pension & welfare payments from this week – Varadkar

9th March 2017 - Leo Varadkar, TD

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the new rate of pensionsand weekly social welfare increases announced in Budget 2017 will start to come into effect from this week onwards, with all higher payments in place by St Patrick’s Day.
The maximum personal rate of pension will increase by €5 per week for 578,000 pensioners aged 66 and over from this week.
There will also be a €5 increase for 744,000 weekly welfare recipients including carers, blind people, widows, people with disabilities, lone parents, jobseekers, maternity and paternity benefit, Farm Assist recipients, and Community Employment participants. There will also be proportional increases for qualified adults and those on reduced rates of payment.
This is all part of the €301 million Budget 2017 welfare package which brought the total welfare spend by the Department of Social Protection in 2017 to €19.854 billion.

Minister Varadkar said:

“When we devised the welfare package for Budget 2017 I was determined that there should be an increase for everyone who was getting a weekly welfare payment including people with disabilities, carers, unemployed, widows, and lone parents, as well as pensioners. For many of these groups it represents the first increase since 2009. I appreciate that the increase is modest but it is a permanent increase and certainly a step in the right direction.”

Further information
Payment of increases in the weekly rates of social welfare payments, 2017:

9^th March	· Carer’s Allowance recipients aged 66 and over · Deserted Wife’s Benefit recipients aged 66 and over
10^th March	· State Pension (contributory) · Widow/er’s, surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension recipients aged 66 & over · Death benefit pension recipients aged 66 and over · State pension (non-contributory)
13^th March	· Maternity/Paternity/Adoptive Benefit · Illness Benefit · Health and Safety Benefit · Injury Benefit · Supplementary Welfare Allowance
15^th March	· Disability Allowance · Jobseeker’s Allowance (other than Jobseeker’s Transition payment) · Pre-retirement allowance · Farm Assist
16^th March	· Invalidity Pension · Jobseeker’s Benefit, Carer’s Benefit · Deserter Wife’s Benefit under the age of 66 · Carer’s Allowance recipients under the age of 66 · One-parent Family Payment (other than where payable in respect of a widow, widower or surviving civil partner) · Jobseeker’s Transition payment · Deserted Wife’s Allowance
17^th March	· Widow/er’s, surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension recipients under the age of 66 · Death benefit pension recipients under the age of 66 · Guardian’s payment (contributory and non-contributory) · Disablement pension and disablement gratuity · Incapacity Supplement · Blind pension · Widow/er’s, surviving civil partner’s (non-contributory) pension · One-parent family payment (payable in respect of a widow, widower or surviving civil partner)

The Department also operates a number of non-statutory schemes, mostly in relation to employment and education supports. The weekly rate increases for these schemes will apply over the course of the week 13th to 17th March inclusive.

Leo Varadkar, TD

Dublin West

Leo Varadkar TD was the Taoiseach of Ireland. He was elected by Dáil Éireann to the role for the second…

Over 1.3 million people to get Budget 2017 increase in pension & welfare payments from this week – Varadkar

Leo Varadkar, TD

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