The Government has announced a weekly increase of €10 per person in a range of social protection payments from 2026, including: the State pension, disability allowance, carer’s allowance, jobseeker’s allowance and one-parent family payment.
A Christmas bonus of a double payment for recipients of long-term social welfare schemes will be paid again this year.
The increases, which apply from January 2026, means the non-contributory State pension will rise to €288 per week for people aged 66 to 79 and €298 for those over 80.
Jobseeker’s allowance (for those aged over 25) and disability allowance will both rise to €254 per week.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers announced the increases during the presentation of Budget 2026 to the Dáil today.
“This will benefit 1.5 million recipients, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, jobseekers and lone parents,” he said.
Minister Chambers said that he is allocating €28.9bn to the Department of Social Protection next year, an increase of over €2bn.
He also announced an increase of €375 in the carer’s allowance income disregard to €1,000 for a single person and €750 for a couple to €2,000; and an increase in the rate of domiciliary care allowance by €20 per month, to €380 per month.
There will be a €300m package of supports for children and families, including an increase in the weekly rates of the child support payment by €8 for children under 12 and by €16 for children over 12.
This will bring the weekly payment to €58 for children under 12 and €78 for those over 12.
The working family payment income thresholds are being increased by €60 per week for all families.
The back-to-school clothing and footwear payment is being extended to two and three-year-olds while the weekly fuel allowance rate is being increased by €5 to €38, and fuel allowance eligibility will be extended to all households in receipt of the working family payment.
Mr Chambers said: “Alongside these new measures, the 2026 allocation for the Department will provide for: an additional 30,000 recipients on pensions, illness, disability and carers schemes; the full-year cost of jobseeker’s pay-related benefit, introduced earlier this year; and continued support for over 50,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine including lone parents, pensioners and other vulnerable cohorts.”
The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) described the lack of provision for a permanent cost of disability payment in the Budget as “utterly disappointing”.
Coupled with the loss of one-off payments this year, the IWA said that people with disabilities will be €1,614 worse off, pushing many further into poverty.
The association’s national advocacy manager Joan Carthy said people are being forced to make choices on whether they eat or keep warm.
“We have advocated for a permanent disability payment over stop-gap temporary measures but to have neither in this Budget is a huge blow, and a real cause for concern.”
Minister of State for Disability Hildegarde Naughton said that the Department was coming from a low funding base in the area of disability, and the ambition in this Budget was to set the base to build from this over the next five budgets.
“I’m happy, it’s a really positive starting point,” she said, adding that there’s a huge demand on disability services, especially in school settings.
Ms Naughton said that she hoped today will see something on disability coming forward from all different Government departments.
She said that this Budget was not about once-off payments, rather permanent targeted measures to help those who need it most.
Article Source – Pensions, social welfare payments to rise by €10 weekly