Selling new workplace pension is getting harder all the time
Department of Social Protection now looking at flat-fee structure to run scheme that disadvantages poorest paid
Department of Social Protection
Looming launch of auto-enrolment pensions means no honeymoon for incoming minister
Companies have just nine months to prepare for mandatory workplace pension contributions from around 800,000 workers
Number of jobseeker’s allowance recipients sanctioned this year set to double
Payment reductions imposed on 9,000 people up to end of October compared with 5,200 for entirety of 2023, figures show
Search for auto-enrolment asset managers to start within weeks
Officials now plan flat charge on participants to run scheme which will hit lower paid people harder
First election poll shows it wouldn’t take much for the race to start looking very tight
Irish Times poll shows Fine Gael are clear front runners so far in this election. But the drop in Simon Harris’s and his party ratings will keep everyone on their toes
Supreme Court to rule on ‘systemically important’ carer’s allowance case
Decision could have profound effect on State’s obligations to carers of severely disabled children
Irish farmers describe use of imported Dutch cheese in school meals programme as ‘insult’
Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association says it has received complaints about use of imported Dutch cheese in school meals programme
€90 cut for unemployed people not engaging with jobs programme ‘common sense’ - Taoiseach
An unemployed person could be left with only €142 per week if they do not engage with department
Ukraine arrivals from next March would not be offered accommodation under new plan
Additional options include introduction of ‘maximum stay’ rule focused on exiting Ukrainians who have been in State accommodation for the longest time first
Double pension and child benefit payments and cost-of-living lump sums to be paid by December 3rd
Timing of the payments will likely fuel speculation around an early general election
New PRSI-linked unemployment benefit to commence in March, says Minister
Unlike Jobseekers, three rates of payment will be available to recipients under scheme, depending on their PRSI contributions
Pensions lobby group calls for auto-enrolment clarity in October budget
Department of Social Protection targeting start of scheme aimed at capturing 750,000 workers without pension plan in ‘early 2025′
RTÉ faces rising tax bill to settle status of hundreds of workers
Broadcaster set aside €21.7m to meet PRSI liabilities from bogus self-employment in the organisation, records show
Hundreds of cases of potential identity fraud uncovered by social welfare investigators
State has made savings of €526m through the review of more than 630,000 social welfare claims
Donohoe defends Coalition’s record as it breaks spending rule again
Government will make additional €1.2bn available for health service despite almost 10% cost overrun so far this year
Health staff reform plan to end ‘traditional 9am-5pm’ work pattern
‘Multi-use’ offices planned for civil servants to allow ‘best use of the State’s property portfolio’ under reforms linked to pay deal
Staff at disability advocacy service to ballot on proposals to resolve long-running pay dispute
Siptu and management at National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities have reached agreement on a number of issues
Payments to 5,000 asylum seekers receiving daily expenses have stopped following means tests, says Heather Humphreys
Minister meets first people to avail of new free travel pass for persons medically unable to drive
Finance officials concerned about oversight of auto-enrolment pension scheme
Legislation holds planned new mandatory workplace pension scheme to lower regulatory standards than private sector rivals
Pension auto-enrolment: Call for companies to get six-month grace for landmark new system
Many Irish employers will struggle with the implementation of the upcoming system, staffing agency warns
India’s Tata Consultancy Services preferred bidder to build auto-enrolment pension system
Department of Social Protection confirms selection of Indian information technology company to build and run landmark pension system
‘Charter’ to help reduce youth unemployment ‘step in right direction’
Some 50,000 long-term unemployed to receive ‘personalised’ supports
Long-term unemployed to be given new ‘progression’ plan or have payments cut
People signed up to personal progression plans would have to meet Intreo employment advisers every two weeks
Means-testing of asylum seekers’ allowance risks ‘pushing families into poverty’, say support groups
Refugee support organisations question Government’s timing of announcement ahead of elections
Gardaí retiring from November will have to make ‘false declaration’ they are available for work - GRA
Department of Public Expenditure says it is ‘actively engaging with stakeholders to develop more streamlined process’ for those retiring under pension changes introduced in 1995
Early retirement: People would give up a fifth of State pension if allowed payment at 60, survey finds
Welfare rules allow deferral of State pension in return for a higher payment but survey finds greater support for flexibility to take pension early
Will inheritance cause a problem with my weekly disability payment?
Care is needed when planning to leave something to a person who is on means-tested social welfare support
Child benefit extension to students aged 18 and teens with disability to come in from May 1st
Payment for further year implemented four months earlier than had been scheduled
Employers may need to run two pensions under auto-enrolment
Department of Social Protection tells employers new rules will allow transfer from compulsory scheme to workplace alternative
Four years ago, we were clapping health workers in the street. Now we’re reducing their benefits
Government has terminated a special sick pay scheme for the tiny proportion of staff who have developed long Covid and can no longer work
Death, taxes and life insurance: Why it is costing you not to get married
Change may be afoot, but there is no doubt that cohabiting couples lose out financially when compared to married people
Hours threshold eased for employers seeking to use scheme employing people with disability
Weekly threshold for employers to secure financial supports is to be reduced from 21 to 15 hours from April 1st
Woman successfully resolves ‘test’ action over domiciliary care allowance refusal
Case could have implications for large number of social welfare appeals
Supreme Court to decide if ‘woman’s work in the home’ article imposes carer funding obligations on State
Mother of profoundly disabled boy challenges refusal of maximum care allowance in appeal of ‘systemic importance’ for carers
Auto-enrolment pension systems bids narrow as Bill nears publication
Plan by Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys to launch landmark project by the end of the year continues to draw a lot of scepticism
Summer jobs in childhood can come back to bite at pension time
Q&A: New way of assessing eligibility for State pension will remove some of the unfairness of the current system
Can a widow benefit from pension she forgot to claim 25 years ago?
Pension Q&A: People need to apply for the widow(er)’s pension as it is not paid automatically unless you are a dependent adult of a State pensioner
I’m about to turn 66 and the pension policies for people like me are bizarre
Now I’m about to turn 66, the Government wants me to delay taking my State pension. So why penalise me for not taking it?
Trust the romantic French to come up with a pragmatic solution on ‘durable relationships’
France has devised a type of conscious coupling that has proven to be highly popular
Social welfare payments for Ukrainian refugees already in Ireland could be cut - Humphreys
New arrivals from Ukraine receive €38.80 but those here before new rate introduced still entitled to €220 jobseekers’ allowance
Double social welfare payment to be made to over 1 million people this week
January cost-of-living welfare bonus had been announced in budget last October
Government TDs raise concerns over plans to cut supports for newly arriving Ukrainian refugees
Fears expressed at Social Protection committee that mothers and children will end up homeless
Q&A: What are the implications of the Supreme Court widower’s pension judgment?
No binding decision on Article 41 family provision with majority court saying people should decide
Number believed to have received Pandemic Unemployment Payment while working more than doubles
Up to 60,000 may have received PUP while in employment, Public Accounts Committee told
17,000 Ukrainians now in full-time employment in Ireland, TDs told
Figure described as an ‘extraordinarily high’ rate given the proportion of refugees that are women with childcare needs
Child maintenance payments could be collected by Revenue as part of shake-up
Wide-ranging changes outlined in report from Minister for Justice come after many years of lobbying by advocates for one-parent families and children
Can my wife get a widow’s pension alongside the old age pension when I die?
Q&A: couple who each qualify for State contributory pension worry about finances when one has gone
Carers to benefit from contributions counting towards State pension
Under scheme launched this week, long-term carers can apply for contributions equivalent to PRSI payments
Disability activists protest outside Leinster House over proposed welfare changes
Plans are a ‘degrading and humiliating’ value judgment, disability activists say
Coalition of disability groups set for mass protest outside Dáil against plans to reform welfare payments
Green paper on reform does not include proposals to remove societal barriers to employment for people with disabilities, say objectors
Tipperary: a town struggling to provide a future for its youth
Agency fights to secure education or jobs for the town’s population who suffer higher than average unemployment, long-term illness or disability, and high levels of deprivation
Budget 2024: Three lump sum payments paid this week as part of cost-of-living supports
Carers, people living alone and families of 370,000 qualified children due to get lump sum
Humphreys to start search for firm to run €150m pension auto-enrolment scheme ‘within weeks’
Tata Consultancy Services, FNZ Group and Accenture said to be among firms preparing to bid for the 10-year contract
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