Unemployment and Jobseeker Payments awarded for COVID-19 Pandemic

On Friday 27 March 2020, payments were issued in respect of 283,000 people who were awarded payment of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

These payments are in addition to the 201,000 people in receipt of standard jobseeker payments as of Friday 27 March (an increase of 19,000 on the figure at the end of February).

As of Sunday night, almost 20,500 employers have registered for the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme. Revenue generated the first tranche of refunds to employers under the new scheme last Friday and these payments will be in the bank accounts of the majority of those respective employers today(30 March).

All payments issued on Friday will be in customers’ bank accounts or at their local post office from Tuesday 31 March. The level of payments reflects the unprecedented demand for the department’s income supports over the past two weeks.

In total (since launch on 16 March 2020), the department received and processed 389,000 applications for the COVID-19 Unemployment Payment. This is equivalent to a 19 month claim-load in two weeks.