Social security benefits expenditure up nearly €27m in first nine months – NSO

During the first three quarters of 2019, an increase of €26.9 million was reported in Social Security Benefits outlay when compared to 2018, the National Statistics Office said.

By the end of September 2019, Social Security Benefits amounted to €752.9 million. This is equivalent to a 3.7 per cent increase over 2018. Both Contributory and Non-Contributory spending rose during the period in question, with the former accounting for €26.3 million or 97.7 per cent of the total rise in social outlay.

Contributory Benefits outlay totalled €611.2 million, 4.5 per cent higher than 2018. This increment was due to a €20.8 million rise reported under Pensions in respect of Retirement, which resulted from a higher number of TwoThirds pensioners. Further increases were registered in Pensions in respect of Widowhood (€3.8 million), Contributory Bonus (€2.1 million) and Other Benefits (€0.1 million). Conversely, Pensions in respect of Invalidity declined by €0.5 million.

Non-Contributory spending amounted to €141.8 million, a 0.4 per cent increase from 2018. The biggest increases in Non-Contributory expenditure were reported under Disability Pension/Allowance (€2.2 million) and Old Age Pension (€1.9 million). In addition, there were also positive growths in In-Work Benefit, Medical Assistance (both €0.5 million) and Non-Contributory Bonus (€0.1 million). On the other hand, Total Social Assistance and Supplementary Assistance spending dropped by €4.2 million and €0.4 million respectively.

Between July and September 2019, Social Security Benefits outlay reached €240.9 million, of which 81.3 per cent was spent on Contributory benefits. This represents an €11.9 million increase over the €229.0 million recorded during the third quarter of 2018. This was mainly the result of increases in the contributory Pensions in respect of Retirement (€7.6 million) and Widowhood (€2.8 million).

By the end of September 2019, the Two-Thirds Pension registered the largest cohort of recipients at 50,562 persons, coupled with the biggest year-over-year rise of 2,129. In contrast, the National Minimum Widows’ Pension reported the largest drop in beneficiaries with 623 fewer persons reported than the corresponding period of 2018. The largest share of Non-Contributory recipients was registered under Children’s Allowance (41,611), in spite of reporting the largest drop in beneficiaries at 1,482. On the other end of the spectrum, In-Work Benefit recipients exhibited the largest increase of 608, amounting to 4,625 persons. Quarter-wise was a similar story with the Two-Thirds Pension (49,493) and Children’s Allowance (40,000) reporting the largest cohorts of Contributory and Non-Contributory beneficiaries respectively.