Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2012
778. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Social Protection he number of those individual persons with unique PPS numbers in receipt of €1,000 or more per week or €52,000 per annum from her Department under one or more different payment headings. [38456/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is not possible to extract the data requested in respect of the number of individual persons with unique PPS numbers in receipt of €1,000 or more per week or €52,000 per annum from the Department under one or more different payment headings. This is because the 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. However, the number of people whose circumstances entitle them to €1,000 per week or more in social welfare payments is very small.
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. For example, 12% of people on the Live Register also receive Rent Supplement and 16% receive Fuel Allowance. The most typical rate of Rent Supplement is €100 per week, while Fuel Allowance is €20 per week from October to April.
The majority of people receive a payment for themselves alone. For example, 75% of people on the Live Register receive a personal rate only, the maximum rate of which is €188 per week, and 52% of these receive less than €188 per week. In general, the highest aggregate payments arise in cases where there is a large number of children and rent or mortgage interest supplement is in payment. These are relatively few in number. For example, there are currently 1,063 people in receipt of increases in their Jobseeker’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Benefit in respect of 6 or more children. These represent less than one quarter of 1% of the Live Register.
The following tabular statement sets out the average weekly value of the most common social welfare payments.
Table: Average values for weekly social welfare payments, January – August 2012.
|
Scheme |
Average value (€weekly) |
|
State Pension (Contributory) |
247.45 |
|
State Pension (Transition) |
242.14 |
|
Widow(er)s Contributory Pension |
231.34 |
|
Invalidity Pension |
227.16 |
|
One Parent Family Payment |
224.23 |
|
State Pension (Non-Contributory) |
213.18 |
|
Illness Benefit |
208.26 |
|
Jobseeker’s Allowance |
201.05 |
|
Disability Allowance |
202.50 |
|
Carer’s Allowance |
187.60 |
|
Jobseeker’s Benefit |
176.32 |
Note: The data presented above 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.
