Social Protection gets its pension figures in a muddle

The table of increased benefits for social protection in The Irish Times on September 28th showed no increase in benefits after the budget for most of the listings — and your answer to a previous letter writer, Mr CO’S, seems to be based on that table. However, a table of benefits issued by Citizens Information suggests that all other benefits were increased proportionately as is normal in budgets. Could you clarify which table of increases is correct, The Irish Times or Citizens Information?

Mr PM,

You are absolutely correct. Mr CO’S and his wife get the contributory State pension — or rather he gets it and she is treated as a qualified adult — and he wanted to know would he alone get the €12 social welfare increase or would they also get a similar amount in respect of his wife.

In answering the question, we relied on the table provided by the Department of Social Protection at its briefing after the budget was announced. That table said clearly that the €12 increase would apply to those eligible for the State pension. It also stated quite categorically that the rate for a qualified adult would remain at €168.70 if that adult was under the age of 66 and €227 a week if they were 66 or older, the same amounts that are payable this year.

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You are far from the only person who was in touch last week when this information was published. Among a number of readers to query the figures was none other than the Department of Social Protection itself.

It turns out that, after the post-budget briefing, someone in the department’s Dublin headquarters realised the error and reissued the table. Unfortunately, it chose to circulate the table only to those people physically present at the briefing and not more generally to media organisations.

That information has now been provided. It turns out that, as Citizens Information states, alongside the €12 increase for those on full State pensions, there are proportionate increases for those on reduced-rate pensions and for qualified adults.

In the case of a qualified adult, the payment for those under the age of 66 will rise to as much as €176.70 next year, from the €168.70 payable now. The weekly payment for those aged 66 and over rises from up to €227 now to €237.80 in January, which will be a little bit of good news for Mr CO’S and others juggling family budgets amid the rising cost of living.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street Dublin 2, or by email to dominic.coyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice