THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection will issue the weekly Pandemic Unemployment Payment, now valued at €143 million, to 475,364 people tomorrow.

The number of people receiving a PUP payment this week represents an increase of 15,443 (over 3%) on the 459,921 people paid last week.

These figures are in addition to the 189,860 people who were on the Live Register at the end of December.

Dublin is the county with the highest number of people who are receiving PUP this week at 147,191. It is followed by Cork with 48,731, and then Galway and Kildare with 25,130 and 21,063 respectively.

The sector with the highest number of people receiving PUP this week has remained the same: accommodation and food service activities (111,569), and wholesale and retail trade (75,861).

The wholesale and retail sector has seen the number of PUP recipients increase from 73,382 last week to 75,861 this week. This is followed by the manufacturing sector, which has increased by 1,559 to 27,173 recipients in the last week.

There are 61,159 people in the construction industry on the payment. Construction is the sector that has seen the largest increase in the number of people receiving PUP this week, with an additional 4,942 people now receiving the payment when compared to last week.

Returning to work and self employment

In the past seven days, some 10,000 people closed their PUP claim, with 6,749 of these stating that they were doing so because they are returning to work.

Self-employed people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) who are looking to maintain their business can earn up to €960 over an eight week period, while retaining their full PUP entitlement.

There is no formal application process and a self-employed person simply needs to inform the Department if they earn over €960 in any eight week period.

Speaking today on the latest PUP figures, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said:

Even though there are an additional 15,443 people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week, the scale of the increase has reduced significantly when compared to the previous fortnight.

“The PUP continues to provide valuable support to those who have lost employment due to the implementation of necessary public health measures to curb the spread of this dangerous virus.”

You can apply for many social welfare payments, including the Pandemic Unemployment Payment at MyWelfare.ie. People have the option of applying for Maternity Benefit, Paternity Benefit, Child Benefit, PRSI refunds and Jobseeker’s payments – as well as apply for a PPS Number (you will need a MyGovID to do this).