The government has spent €16.96 million to 67,434 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) this week. This represents a decrease of 7,979 on the number of people in receipt of the payment last week. In addition, a further 4,881 people, who are receiving payment today, closed their PUP claim between 31 January and 6 February 2022.
All COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payments have been paid into recipients’ bank accounts or at their post office on Tuesday 8 February 2022, a statement from the Department of Social Protection said.
The sector with the highest number of people receiving PUP this week is Accommodation and Food Service Activities (14,765) and is followed by Wholesale and Retail Trade (10,741) and Administrative and Support Service activities (7,347).
Over €9.1 billion has been paid out in PUP payments since the support was introduced.
Having reopened for workers who had been impacted by the restrictions in early December, PUP closed for new applications on 22 January 2022 in line with the government decision to lift these restrictions.
With effect from 8 March 2022, a person who is still in receipt of the PUP will move to a weekly rate of €208. This represents a four-week extension on what had previously been arranged.
PUP recipients will start transitioning to standard jobseeker terms, and if eligible, will start to move onto a jobseeker payment effective from 5 April 2022.