Social security benefits rise by €15.5 million in first quarter – NSO Social Security Beneficiaries

During the first quarter of 2018 Social Security Benefits outlay rose by €15.5 million in comparison to 2017, the NSO said.

A total of €223.9 million was spent on Social Security Benefits between January and March 2018, reflecting a 7.4 per cent rise from the same period in 2017. Increases in spending were registered under both Contributory Benefits (€10.4 million) and NonContributory Benefits (€5.0 million).

During the first quarter of 2018, Contributory Benefits expenditure totalled €176.2 million, 6.3 per cent more than 2017. An €8.5 million rise in Pensions in respect of Retirement, the consequence of an €8.4 million increase reported under Two-Thirds Pension, was the main catalyst for the increase.

Furthermore, higher spending was also registered by Pensions in respect of Widowhood (€1.4 million) and Contributory Bonus (€0.5 million). Conversely, the rise in Contributory Benefits outlay was partially offset by a drop in expenditure for Pensions in respect of Invalidity (€0.1 million).

Non-Contributory outlay reached €47.6 million by the end of March 2018, an 11.9 per cent growth when compared to 2017.

Double payments in March made for both Old Age Pension and Disability Pensions/Allowance, resulting in a joint increase of €5.1 million, was the main reason for the recorded increase. Further increases were also registered under In-Work Benefit (€0.5 million), Non-Contributory Bonus (€0.3 million), Supplementary Assistance (€0.2 million) and Child Allowance (€0.1 million).

Social Assistance recorded the sole drop in expenditure with €1.1 million less spent on such benefits during the first quarter of 2018.

Two-Thirds pensioners accounted for the highest share of Contributory beneficiaries with 47,071 persons obtaining the pension during the first quarter of 2018. This is more than five-times higher than the second largest share of Contributory beneficiaries reported by the Sickness Benefit (9,156).

Furthermore, both above-mentioned benefits registered the biggest increases in Contributory recipients with 2,347 more TwoThirds pensioners and 1,419 more Sickness beneficiaries in comparison to the first quarter of 2017. At the other end of the spectrum, the largest drop in recipients was reported by the Retirement Pension (561).

By the end of March 2018, Children’s Allowance (40,905) formed the largest share of NonContributory beneficiaries followed by the Supplementary Assistance (23,567). The In-Work Benefit reported the largest rise in recipients with 1,064 more than the same quarter in 2017. Conversely, the Unemployment Assistance registered the biggest decline in recipients with 496 less persons.