Increased number of pandemic payment recipients in Mayo
THE number of people in Mayo receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) has risen again this week.
Today (Tuesday), 9,356 people in the county will receive the payment – up from 9,071 last week – a rise of 285.
At the height of the first Covid lockdown on May 5, there were 16,400 recipients in the county.
This week, the Department of Social Protection has issued payments valued at €103.8 million, up from €99 million last week, to 350,072 people in receipt of the PUP.
The number of people receiving a payment this week represents an increase of just over 7,500 on the 342,505 people paid last week.
The sector with the highest number of people in receipt of the PUP is accommodation and food service activities (102,682) followed by wholesale and retail trade (57,015) and other sectors e.g. hairdressers and beauty salons (31,048).
Earlier this month, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys secured approval at Cabinet to extend the 2020 earnings reference for employees to September 2020.
This means that people who only commenced employment after February 2020 but have now been laid-off due to increased restrictions can have their payment rate fixed by reference to their earnings in the period January to September 2020.
As a result of this change, some 37,430 people receiving PUP this week will see an increase in their rate of payment. No one will have their weekly rate of payment reduced as a result of this re-assessment of their earnings.
Commenting on this week’s figures, Minister Humphreys said: “While the number of people receiving PUP has increased again this week, it is heartening to see the rate of increase reduce.
“The overall number is also much smaller than during the first period of Level 5 restrictions in March and April.
“This reflects the fact that a wider range of sectors have been able to continue trading, such as in construction and manufacturing.
“However, the number of people in receipt of PUP remains high, demonstrating why it was so important to keep PUP open to new entrants.”