Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013
491. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide, in tabular form, the amount that was spent on the core weekly social protection rates for each of the past five years; the amount projected to be spent in 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34294/13]
View answerThe following table details the expenditure on weekly income support payments by programme made by the Department from 2008 to date. The 2013 data relate to the relevant expenditure included in the 2013 Revised Estimates Volume.
|
Programme |
2008 Outturn |
2009 Outturn |
2010 Outturn |
2011 Outturn |
2012 Outturn |
2013 REV Estimate |
|
€000 |
€000 |
€000 |
€000 |
€000 |
€000 |
|
|
Pensions |
5,489,783 |
5,834,853 |
5,880,350 |
6,072,755 |
6,259,412 |
6,447,170 |
|
Working Age Income Supports |
3,999,404 |
5,754,073 |
6,043,560 |
5,757,915 |
5,591,989 |
5,288,599 |
|
Working Age Employment Supports |
150,304 |
183,746 |
289,880 |
825,350 |
916,119 |
1,007,369 |
|
Illness Disability and Carers |
3,194,619 |
3,427,986 |
3,428,594 |
3,312,412 |
3,207,899 |
3,216,600 |
|
Children |
189,802 |
181,679 |
202,156 |
221,092 |
239,114 |
245,750 |
|
Total Expenditure on weekly payments |
13,023,912 |
15,382,337 |
15,844,540 |
16,189,524 |
16,214,532 |
16,205,489 |
Some regular monthly payments are also made by the Department of which the most significant (€1.91 billion) is child benefit.
Expenditure on the working age employment supports programme has increased over the period in question. This increase is mainly due to the transfer of responsibility from FÁS to the Department for Community Employment, the Jobs Initiative, the Wage Subsidy scheme and associated schemes from 1 January 2011. In addition, responsibility for the Rural Social Scheme and the Community Services Programme transferred from the former Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to the Department of Social Protection in late September 2010.
The Department also incurs expenditure on a range of supplementary payments which are not included in the table. These include rent supplement, fuel allowance, free travel and the household benefits package.
