Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 February 2013
119. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the number of households in receipt of more than €1,000 weekly in social welfare payments; the number of households in receipt of between €750 and €1,000; the number of households in receipt of between €500 and €750; the number of households in receipt of between €250 and €500; and the number of households in receipt of less than €250, excluding child benefit. [7649/13]
View answerThe Department delivers a wide range of payments at weekly, monthly, annual and other intervals across a range of claim processing systems which support the delivery of entitlements to people under individual social welfare schemes. In light of this, it is not possible to extract data in respect of total social welfare payments issued to individuals in the State. In relation to payments at family or household level, unless the social welfare status of other family members, such as siblings or parents, is directly relevant to the particular social welfare claim being made by an individual, details of social welfare payments made to other family members are not associated with their claim. For that reason, the information sought in relation to the level of payments made to families is not available.
While the average payment varies across the various schemes operated by the Department, the most typical rate paid to people of working age is €188 per week, while the most typical rate paid to people aged 66 years or more is €230.30 per week. In addition to their primary weekly payment, some people may also receive secondary benefits, such as Rent Supplement or Fuel Allowance if they also satisfy the conditions for receipt of those payments. The most typical rate of Rent Supplement is €100 per week, while Fuel Allowance is €20 per week from October to April.
The accompanying tabular statement sets out the average weekly value of the most common social welfare payments in 2012.
Table: Average values for weekly social welfare payments, Annual Average
Provisional Outturn in 2012
|
Scheme |
Average value (€weekly) |
|
State Pension (Contributory) |
243.47 |
|
State Pension (Transition) |
241.01 |
|
Widow(er)s Contributory Pension |
227.64 |
|
Invalidity Pension |
228.01 |
|
One Parent Family Payment |
224.06 |
|
State Pension (Non-Contributory) |
212.49 |
|
Illness Benefit |
206.71 |
|
Jobseeker’s Allowance |
201.06 |
|
Disability Allowance |
202.98 |
|
Carer’s Allowance |
188.55 |
|
Jobseeker’s Benefit |
176.23 |
Note: The data presented is scheme specific and does not take into account the fact that some individual recipients may be in receipt of more than one personal rate of a primary payment e.g. State Pension Contributory and a Half-Rate Carer’s Allowance (over 40% of all Carer’s Allowance recipients receive more than one primary personal payment per week). The weekly averages include arrears and increases/allowances other than fuel allowance.
