- Christmas Bonus Double Payment to be paid to over 1.3million people
- Pensioners, carers, people with disabilities & lone parents set to benefit
- People on Long-Term Illness Benefit to receive Bonus for first time
- Payments totalling over €300 million to issue from next week
- Minister Humphreys encourages people to support small businesses & shop local
The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD, has announced payment details for the Christmas Bonus which will be paid to approximately 1.3 million people next week.
As part of this year’s Budget discussions, Minister Humphreys secured agreement for a Christmas Bonus Payment at a cost of over €300 million. The payment will be made to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, widows and lone parents and will be paid next week in addition to a person’s normal weekly payment.
This week Minister Humphreys secured Government approval to extend the Christmas Bonus to long-term recipients of Illness Benefit for the first time. This means people in receipt of Illness Benefit for 12 months or longer will now receive the payment – approximately 17,500 people will benefit from this extension. Long-term Illness Benefit recipients will receive their Christmas Bonus between Tuesday, 6th December 2022 and Friday, 23rd December 2022.
The Christmas Bonus payments are in addition to the 7 lump sum payments that have already been made to support households with the cost of living over the last six weeks. The combined cost of all 8 Lump Sum Payments is over €1.2 Billion.
Announcing payment details for the Christmas Bonus, Minister Humphreys said:
Christmas is a very special time of the year, but it can be an expensive period for individuals and families, particularly given the current cost of living.
I am pleased therefore to announce that a Christmas Bonus Payment will be paid next week. This payment is designed to put more money in the pockets of our pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, widows and lone parents.
I’m particularly pleased that this year’s Christmas Bonus will be extended to people on long-term Illness Benefit for the first time.
The vast majority of people are on Illness Benefit for a very short period of time and then return to work however there are a small cohort of people with serious medical conditions who remain on the payment for longer periods of time.
These are people who have worked all their lives, paid their PRSI and then have to take time out of the workforce due to serious and possibly long-lasting health conditions. A number of people have raised this issue with me and I am pleased to confirm that people in receipt of Illness Benefit for 12 months or longer will now receive the payment. Approximately 17,500 people will benefit from this move.
This year has also been a challenging one for small business and I would encourage people, where possible, to shop locally in the run-up to Christmas this year.”
People will receive their Christmas Bonus on the same date that they usually receive their primary payment.
The following is the full list of payments which will receive the Christmas Bonus:
| Scheme | Number of recipients to receive Bonus | |
| State Pension Non-Contributory | 93,636 | |
| Jobseeker’s Allowance* | 94,080 | |
| One Parent Family Payment | 39,930 | |
| Widow(er)s’ Pension (non-con) | 1,110 | |
| Deserted Wife’s Allowance | 45 | |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance* | 3,120 | |
| Daily Expenses Allowance* | 2,483 | |
| Farm Assist | 4,700 | |
| Community Employment | 19,010 | |
| Rural Social Scheme | 2,900 | |
| Job Initiative | 446 | |
| TUS | 5,268 | |
| Back to Work Enterprise Allowance | 2,730 | |
| Back to Education Allowance* | 3,354 | |
| Back to Work Family Dividend | 2,749 | |
| Disability Allowance | 155,470 | |
| Blind Pension | 1,004 | |
| Carer’s Allowance | 90,790 | |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | 48,008 | |
| Guardian’s Payment (non-con) | 577 | |
| Magdalen Commission Scheme | 409 | |
| State Pension (Contributory) | 494,100 | |
| Widow(er)s’ Surviving Civil Partners Pension (Con) | 123,940 | |
| Occupational Injuries Death Benefit | 711 | |
| Deserted Wife’s Benefit | 4,750 | |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | 3,320 | |
| Invalidity Pension | 56,640 | |
| Disablement Benefit | 13,777 | |
| Carer’s Benefit | 3,410 | |
| Guardian’s Payment (Contributory) | 1,155 | |
| Benefit payment for 65 year olds, Jobseeker’s Benefit* Jobseeker’s Benefit for the Self-Employed* | 15,063 | |
| Illness Benefit** | 17,500 | |
| Total | 1,306,185 |
* 12 months duration on eligible social welfare payment or scheme is required in order to be eligible for the Bonus. Time spent on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is included in jobseeker qualifying period.
** The 17,500 figure is an estimate of the number of Long-term Illness Benefit recipients who will receive a Christmas Bonus. These long-term Illness Benefit recipients will receive the Bonus between Tuesday 6th December 2022 and Friday 23rd December 2022.
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