THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection has issued weekly payments valued at €125.52 million to 421,373 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).

The number of people receiving a Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week has decreased by 15,776 compared to last week.

The figures published today are in addition to the 183,096 people who were on the Live Register at the end of March.

All Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payments issued will be in recipients’ bank accounts or at their Post Office tomorrow.

Dublin is the county with the highest number of people who are receiving PUP this week at 134,417. It is followed by counties Cork (42,391) and Galway (22,774).

All sectors have fewer people receiving PUP this week, reflecting the number of people who have closed their claims in recent weeks to return to work.

The sector with the highest number of people receiving PUP this week is accommodation and food service activities (102,405), followed by wholesale and retail trade (67,990) and construction (50,169).

Accommodation and food service activities is the sector that has seen the largest decrease in the number of people receiving PUP this week with 3,753 fewer people receiving the payment compared to last week.

The construction sector has seen the number of PUP recipients decrease from 52,723 last week to 50,169 this week. This is followed by the wholesale and retail sector which has seen the number of PUP recipients decrease from 70,083 last week to 67,990 this week.

Some 48% of those in receipt of PUP are receiving the maximum rate of €350 this week.

People returning to work

The past seven days saw 7,327 people close their PUP claims, with 5,966 of these stating that they were doing so because they are returning to work.

Dublin had the greatest number of people closing their claims to return to work (1,478), followed by Cork (672) and Kildare (311).

The sectors with the largest number of employees closing their Pandemic Unemployment Payment claims to return to work are construction (1,501), wholesale and retail trade (970), and accommodation and food service activities sector (723).

Some 654 people closed their claims to return to work in the manufacturing sector while 119 closed their claims as they return to work in the education sector.

The Department continues to remind workers who are returning to work that they must close their claim for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) on the actual date that they start back at work, in order to ensure that their claim is processed correctly and to avoid incurring an over-payment that the Department will take steps to recover.

The easiest way to close a claim for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is online via www.MyWelfare.ie.

Any worker returning to work with an enquiry about closing their claim, can contact the Department’s dedicated Income Support Helpline at 1890 800 024 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.