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MORE THAN 437,000 people received the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) this week, a decrease of over 6,000 compared to last week.
Payments worth a total of €130.31 million were paid to people in receipt of the PUP today.
7,165 people closed their PUP claims in the past week, with more than 5,500 of those returning to work.
Construction is the sector that saw the largest decrease in the number of people receiving the payment this week, with 1,591 fewer people than last week.
Almost half of people in receipt of the PUP this week got the maximum rate of €350.
The Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said these figures “underline the importance” of the payment as a support for people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
“I know people are feeling weary and fatigued. The efforts that you are all making are crucial to keeping the virus suppressed and therefore protecting lives while we roll out the vaccination programme, which is being significantly ramped up this month as the supply of vaccines increases.”
Just over 2,000 people received the enhanced illness payment this week. This is the payment for those who are off work with Covid-19, or those who are advised to self-isolate.
The age group with the largest number of people in receipt of the PUP this week is those aged under 25, with more than 105,000 people.
This is followed by almost 99,000 people aged 35-44.
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Do all 437,000 know that all Covid payments for this year is to be taxed this year (once returned to work) and not like last years (which will be taxed from 2022). This is what comes with level 5 restrictions, 4th month into the year.
@John Egan: another mass emergration when this mess is over ,my crystal ball not given off a good picture for the immediate future ha
@John Egan: I work reviewing people’s tax and what is happening this year is that when someone starts working after receiving the PUP, revenue add a full years PUP on to their account and reduce their tax credits to a minus figure, as a full years PUP would be €18,200, and you only have enough tax credits to cover the first €16,500. So people are having to get statements from the social welfare to show how much they have received up to the point of going back to work, and you have to message it to them through My Enquires. It takes weeks to get it sorted – I am actually sorting one for a staff member at work who was a close contact and got it for two weeks, she had now been waiting 4 weeks for her tax credits to be sorted and is getting taxed heavily at the moment. It’s ridiculous!
an absolute mess and i agree theres going to be anarchy because of it. Like yous said, near impossible to get through to due to phones being off
@John Egan: I’m sure they know it’ll be taxed. It’s been all over the news and it’s income!
@Gary O’Brien: I returned to.work in August in a new job last year after being off for 5 months.
3 times I had to contact revenue directly on the phone to sort out my tax credits. Every few weeks my tax credits went to zero and had transferred to my wife for some reason. One chap I spoke with said it was a 2 week delay in communication between welfare and revenue. It eventually stopped happening andybtax credits have settled down.
437,000 payments totalling e133,000,000 per week, every week. I would guess (no facts checked) 80 or 90% of that total figure goes straight back into the economy securing employment for many and pumping VAT and other taxes back into the coffers. I can’t imagine what the country would be like without the payment. This has saved countless lives!
@Paul Furey: Only 80 or 90% going back into the coffers….? We can’t have that ….!! Reduce the PUP by 10-20% to make sure it all goes back into the coffers ….. Hey presto, no savings.
Can anyone tell me if The Passport office is open or were they working from home like the Romanian Gangs.
@Larry Rawson: romanian gangs?
This Pandemic payment has been a great help to people.I do not qualify for it myself but I am lucky being self employed for over 25 years I can go to my savings till it is all over hopefully by the summer 2022.
@Fran Proins: you have some buzz for 2022 I’ve noticed.
@Fran Proins: For a lot people will over next month but you can go back and sleep till summer 2022 if you wish.
@Fran Proins: The employment fallout, financial heartache, and debt repayments will go on a hell of a lot longer than 2022 …. I for one, will not be afraid to call out the Lockdown Crew on their fear, and dopey rhetoric, stealing a year from our youngsters, family owned SMEs and many others ….
Taxman is coming…hee hee….
It still amuses me how some the ppl who are in receipt of a surplus payment to what they were getting precovid think they’re not gonna be shafted by the taxman.
It’ll be years of payment back to revenue.
You get nothing for free here in little ole Eire
@Tom: it was never identified as a free payment
@Tom: a very small minority at this stage will be earning more on the PUP than before Covid.
@Ryan O’Rourke: Who even cares if they are earning more? They didn’t ask to be out of work. The government are the ones telling them they aren’t allowed to work. If someone’s making an extra 100€ per week, fair play. It’s nothing compared to what corrupt politicians and the top 1% steal on a daily basis from consumers and taxpayers
PUP is making it very difficult to get employees, many of those on PUP should really be on jobseekers now because they will not have their job when it is time for their former employers to reopen….those formerly on 22k pa are not seeking employment as the PUP covers their weekly expenses so no incentive to work. They don’t realise that by taking PUP revenue will come back and bite them.. they can’t runaway abroad as before because most other countries have a similar problem with no extra jobs… so they are stuck here and will have to pay the tax
@Kevin50: That’s a load of crap. Every single person who was working full time wants to get off the PUP because they want a decent amount of income to be able to live? If your job reopens, you get off the PUP and go back to work. If you don’t, you lose your job.
The real conversation here is how damn low we pay hundreds of thousands of workers in society as a whole… jobs which we have learnt are completely essential to the functioning of our society. While the rich flourish. Whenever the little guy wins, everyone complains. PUP is nothing compared to what the top 1% steal off consumers and taxpayers daily.
And alot of these payments are due to the incompetence of our goverment and causing people to be out of work due to silly restrictions..
@Patrick Khan: there’s always one…..and here he is!
@Patrick Khan: indeed. No end in sight either.
@Patrick Khan: very true, and and supporters of the PUP like to say “where would we be without it” Awns – likely back at work. And PUP was never an option. We’ll take away your employment but dont worry, we’ll give you less and tax you for it as well as your normal tax once back working. Great, thanks !! Good grief.
How much did a teacher get from the state
Full pay
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