The promised €400 lump sum payment for households in receipt of the Fuel Allowance will be paid from November 14, the Social Protection Minister confirmed yesterday.
Heather Humphries confirmed the date for the additional payment which was announced as part of Budget 2023 last month. The one-off payment brings the total value of the winter Fuel Allowance to €1,324 per household.
This season’s scheme will run for 28 weeks with 371,000 qualifying for the weekly subsidy of €33 which can be paid each week or in two lump sums. Additional funding will also allow for the scheme to be expanded in January, adding another 81,000 households with a new means test for over-70s.
Read more: Budget calculator 2023: How income tax changes will affect you
The new means test for over-70s will increase the weekly cut-off point to €200 above the weekly contributory state pension rate. Minister Humphreys said: “The Fuel Allowance plays a vital role in supporting hundreds of thousands of households with their heating costs over the winter months.
"In order to ease the pressure and stress that many households are currently facing, an additional €400 lump sum cost-of-living payment will be made to all households in receipt of Fuel Allowance in mid-November. This will bring the total value of the Fuel Allowance to €1,324 per household.”
Earlier this week, St Vincent de Paul warned the cost of living measures would not be enough to keep people out of poverty. An analysis of the Budget measures found that “for the first time since 2017 neither the Contributory nor Non-Contributory State Pension will provide the basis of an adequate income for an urban older person living alone”.
Budget measures include a €600 electricity credit, a double child benefit payment and one-off payments for Living Alone Allowance, Fuel Allowance and Working Family Payment. It also includes an increase of €12 in weekly social welfare payments and an increase to the amount you can earn before you start paying the higher rate of tax by €3,200.
The first of three €200 electricity credits is due to be paid in next month, with two more in spring 2023.
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