More than 1.38 million people on primary weekly payments will receive the bonus payment at the end of the month
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Three groups will be excluded from October’s cost-of-living bonus payment introduced as part of Budget 2025.
More than 1.38 million people on primary weekly payments – including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents – will receive the bonus payment at the end of the month.
The cost-of-living bonus will be paid out on the week of October 28.
However, post offices will not be in operation on that date as it is a bank holiday Monday.
Those who typically receive social welfare payments on Mondays can collect their payments from Friday, October 25 – including the new bonus sum.
The October bonus, the first of several cost-of-living and lump sum payments being rolled out by the government, will be paid in the same fashion as the Christmas bonus in December.
Social welfare recipients who collect weekly payments will receive a 100pc increase in their weekly rate of payment.
These include all the main payments from the Department of Social Protection, so those receiving Fuel Allowance, the Working Family Payment, or Maternity Benefit do not qualify.
Additionally, those in receipt of the Living Alone Increase, the Increase for Living on a Specified Island and the Over-80 Increase will not receive the bonus as these are not primary weekly payments.
“These payments are increases to weekly payments for those that are eligible to get them. If you get these increases, the increase will be doubled along with your primary payment,” the Department of Social Protection said.
Those eligible for the October cost-of-living bonus include those in receipt of any of the following payments: