Social security benefit spending rose by five per cent in the first nine months of the year when compared to the January to September period of 2016, official figures released today show.
The main driver behind the increase was a €34.6 million, or 6.6 per cent, increase in contributory benefit spending, with expenditure on two-thirds and widowhood pensions up by €19.6 million and €15.8 million respectively.
Those increases helped bump up social security spending to €703.2 million by the end of September.
Increases in contributory benefits were partially offset by declines in spending on invalidity pensions (€2.6 million), other benefits (€1.0 million) and benefits in respect of industrial injuries and gratuities (€0.1 million).
Spending on non-contributory benefits during the first three quarters of the year, at €141.5 million, was in line with last year.
In Q3 alone, government outlay on social security benefits fell by €22 million to reach €223.4 million. This was mainly due to a double payment in August 2016 to retirement pensioners, which meant contributory expenditure was €18.8 million lower this year.
Another double payment in social assistance made in August 2016 meant that non-contributory spending was also down in Q3 when compared to the same period last year, from €48.3 million to €45.2 million.
Graph: NSOBeneficiaries
People receiving a two-thirds pension continue to make up the lion's share of social security beneficiaries (47,207), with 2,450 more people receiving a pension in the first nine months of this year when compared to the same period of 2016.
Conversely, there were 447 fewer people receiving an unemployment benefit in September than there were a year ago.
After the first nine months of 2017, the majority of Non-Contributory recipients consisted of children’s allowance (42,769), followed by supplementary assistance (24,720). The in-work benefit recorded the largest rise in beneficiaries with 1,292 more recipients while the biggest drop in recipients was reported by the unemployment assistance (1,581).