The outlay on social security benefits in the first three quarters increased by €14.9 million in comparison with last year, mainly due to increases in expenditure on retirement pensions and social assistance, the National Statistics Office said.

It said social security benefits amounted to €638.6 million during the first nine months, a 2.4 per cent rise compared to the same period last year.

The increase in outlay was due to a €9.2 million increase in expenditure on contributory benefits and a €5.7 million increase in non-contributory benefits outlay.

Contributory benefits expenditure totalled €480.4 million by the end of September, two per cent higher than in 2013. This was mostly due to a €9.7 million rise in outlay on retirement pensions.

Non-contributory benefits increased by 3.8 per cent in the first nine months. This was due to increases in social assistance (€4.2million), old age pension (€1.1 million), disability pension/allowance (€900,000), medical assistance (€400,000) and supplementary sssistance (€400,000).

The increase in non-contributory expenditure was partly offset by drops in children’s allowance (€900,000) and bonus (€300,000).

In the third quarter, the outlay on social security benefi ts increased by €8.2 million, to €226.3 million. An increase in expenditure was recorded under contributory benefits (€13.3 million), while non-contributory benefits declined by €5.1 million during the same period.