Austin Deasy
Ceist:153 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Social Welfare the social welfare payments and services that are provided through post offices on behalf of his Department. [12265/96]
Vol. 466 No. 7
153 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Social Welfare the social welfare payments and services that are provided through post offices on behalf of his Department. [12265/96]
An Post is the principal agency through which payments are delivered to social welfare customers. At present, An Post delivers approximately 755,000 weekly and 520,000 monthly payments to social welfare customers. The total value of payments made by An Post each week amounts to some £52.4 million. It is estimated that An Post will deliver about 46 million payments to social welfare customers during 1996. Details of the scheme types and volumes involved are given in the table attached.
In addition to payment services, An Post also provides special savings bank deposit accounts into which social welfare customers may opt to have certain pension and child benefit payments transferred electronically. At present, 1,370 pensioners and 6,159 child benefit customers avail of this service.
Weekly Payments |
|
Old Age Contributory Pension |
62,000 |
Old Age Non-Contributory Pension |
102,000 |
Retirement Pension |
59,000 |
Survivor's Contributory Pension |
90,000 |
Widow's Non-Contributory Pension |
19,000 |
Orphan's Contributory Pension |
500 |
Orphan's Non-Contributory Pension |
200 |
Invalidity Pension |
53,000 |
Deserted Wife's Benefit |
24,000 |
Deserted Wife's Allowance |
2,000 |
Lone Parent (Unmarried Parent) Pension |
35,000 |
Survivor's Benefit |
600 |
Free Fuel |
3,000 |
Lone Parent (Widowed Parent) Pension |
2,000 |
Lone Parent (Separated Spouse) Allowance |
11,000 |
Pre-Retirement Allowance |
17,000 |
Carer's Allowance |
10,000 |
Lone Parent (Prisoner's Spouse) Allowance |
100 |
Long-Term Unemployment Assistance |
16,000 |
Long-Term Disability Benefit |
25,000 |
Family Income Supplement |
11,000 |
Back-To-Work Scheme |
14,000 |
Blind Person's Pension |
3,000 |
Unemployment Payments |
196,000 |
Total |
755,400 |
Monthly Payments |
|
Child Benefit |
520,000 |