Minister Doherty publishes Department of Social Protection Annual Report for 2016
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
Today Minister for Employment and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, T.D. published the Department’s Annual Report for 2016.
The Department is the largest Department in Government with some 6,000 staff and an annual budget of almost €20bn.
In launching the report, the Minister reflected on the wide and diverse customer groups served by the Department - including families, people in employment, jobseekers, employers, people with illness and disabilities, carers, and older people.
“Through the wide range of services it provides, the Department of Social Protection impacts on the lives of almost every citizen in the State in the course of their life – from Child Benefit to the State pension and every possible life stage in between – maternity, paternity, illness, unemployment and redundancy.
“The scale of the Department’s work is considerable. Each week almost 1.4 million social welfare payments are made and, when qualified adults and children are included, around 2.1 million people benefit from these payments. In addition, some 623,000 families receive monthly Child Benefit payments in respect of almost 1.2 million children.”
Minister Doherty acknowledged the role of her predecessor, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in providing enhanced supports to jobseekers seeking to get back to work during his tenure in the Department of Social Protection;
“Throughout 2016, the Department implemented key actions and initiatives from the Pathways to Work Strategy for 2016-2020. Significant progress was made in supporting jobseekers to return to work with the unemployment rate falling from a peak of 15.1% in 2012, to 7.1% at the end of 2016. This success has continued and this Government’s continued and relentless focus on tackling unemployment is continuing to reap rewards into 2017, with an unemployment rate of 6.3% for June this year.”
While recent improvements in the performance of the Irish economy have reduced the numbers of people in receipt of unemployment related income supports, wider demographic trends in Irish society mean that the demands on the Department’s services continue to grow.
In 2016, a number of improved measures for people receiving social welfare payments were also secured in the Budget that was announced in October. These included the weekly increase of €5 for people receiving the maximum rates of payment with a proportionate increase for those on reduced rates. The Budget also provided for the extension of Treatment Benefit (dental, optical, hearing) and Invalidity Pension to the self-employed, all of which are taking effect at various stages throughout this year.
A Christmas Bonus, amounting to €221 million was paid at the increased rate of 85% to 1.2 million people during the first week of December 2016.
The developments outlined in the Department’s report show the wide range of service and policy reforms that were implemented by the Department in 2016, to help jobseekers secure employment, to reflect the changing needs of families and to improve service delivery. These included the provision of work placement opportunities, guidance and training services for jobseekers as well as the delivery of a range of services for employers including recruitment services, PRSI supports and jobsfairs.
Key Achievements of the Department in 2016 include: