THE Department of Social Protection has announced that a number of social welfare payments which had been moved to a fortnightly schedule from the end of March are being restored back to being paid weekly.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all weekly social welfare payments were changed to a fortnightly schedule from 23 March.
The measure was kept under constant review, and the Department is now moving some payments back to what had been their weekly schedule.
The payments restored to a weekly schedule include One-parent Family Payment, Working Family Payment, Illness Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit.
The majority of these customers will start to receive their weekly payment from the week beginning 17 August, with some receiving their weekly payment from the week beginning 10 August.
A number of payments are continuing to be paid on a fortnightly basis e.g. Pensions, Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit.
Also last March, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department extended the number of days within which a person could collect their social welfare payment at a post office from 20 days to 90 days.
The Department is now changing the number of days back to 20 for some payments.
The two-week payment schedule was introduced to better manage the footfall in post offices and banks and to promote social distancing.
This allowed for greater adherence to the public health guidelines around Covid-19. The Department will continue to review the schedules for the payments that continue to be paid fortnightly and in line with public health guidelines.
