How we work
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
The department supports the Minister for Social Protection in the discharge of governmental, parliamentary and departmental duties.
The main functions of the department are to:
design, develop and deliver effective and cost-efficient income supports, activation and *employment services and provide comprehensive, accurate information to all its customers
work towards providing seamless delivery of services in conjunction with other departments, agencies and bodies
The department serves a wide and diverse group of clients including families, people in employment, unemployed people, people with illnesses and disabilities, carers and older people. In more recent times, the department has expanded its remit to provide a range of services to employers and it has invested significantly in developing its employer relationship capacity to position the department as a partner of first choice for employers in relation to recruitment and employment support services.
The department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the state.
Key services include:
Each week, nearly 1.6 million people receive a social welfare payment and, when qualified adults and children are included, almost 2.1 million people benefit from these payments. Over 619,000 families receive child benefit payments in respect of almost 1.2 million children each month.
Some €19.9 billion (provisional outturn) was spent by the department in 2015.
The activities of the department in 2015 included: