Government spends €65m more on social benefits in first quarter 2022 – NSO
During the first quarter of 2022, government outlay towards Social Security Benefits rose by €65.8 million in comparison to 2021, the NSO said.
By the end of March 2022, spending on Social Security Benefits totalled €321.8 million, 25.7 per cent higher than the previous year.
A €66.0 million rise in Contributory expenditure was the primary reason behind the increase in spending, while Non-Contributory outlay fell marginally by €0.3 million. Government spending towards Contributory Benefits amounted to €271.6 million, a 32.1 per cent rise from 2021.
Pensions in respect of Retirement recorded the largest increase of €57.3 million, a result of two regular Two-Thirds Pension payments made in March 2022. Further increases were registered under Contributory Bonus (€6.2 million), Pensions in respect of Widowhood (€2.5 million) and Other Benefits (€0.2 million).
Between January and March 2022, €50.2 million went towards Non-Contributory Benefits, a 0.5 per cent decrease in comparison to the previous year. Age Pension exhibited the largest drop at €2.0 million, with lower spending also reported under Disability Pensions/Allowance (€1.3 million), Total In-Work Benefit (€0.2 million), Child Allowance (€0.2 million) and Medical Assistance (€0.1 million). Conversely, higher outlay was recorded under Total Social Assistance (€1.7 million), Supplementary Allowance (€1.3 million), Carers Allowances /Grants (€0.5 million) and NonContributory Bonus (€0.1 million).
Social Security Beneficiaries In the first quarter of 2022, the largest number of Contributory beneficiaries was recorded under the Two-Thirds Pension (55,611). Furthermore, the 3,817 increase in Two-Thirds pensioners was the highest reported among the Contributory benefits. On the other hand, the biggest drop in recipients was registered under the Retirement Pension (935) (Table 2). Children’s Allowance reported the highest number of Non-Contributory recipients, with 41,471 families in receipt of the benefit.
The In-Work Benefit recorded the largest increase in beneficiaries of 2,268, while the highest drop in recipients was witnessed under Supplementary Allowance (761).