COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment Rates October 2020
From Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Published at
Last updated
Rates from 16 October 2020
From 16 October 2020 until 31 January 2021 the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will be paid at 4 rates.
The rate you receive will depend on the amount you used to get paid:
- if you earned less than €200 per week – the rate of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment will be €203 per week
- if you earned between €200 and €299.99 per week – the rate of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment will be €250 per week
- if you earned between €300 and €399.99 per week – the rate of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment will be €300 per week
- if you earned €400 and over- you will receive €350
This rate change was announced on 19 October. It is effective from Friday 16 October, therefore payments made on Tuesday 27 October will include the new rate of €350 where applicable
Why is the rate changing
The introduction of a higher payment rate of €350 reflects the move to a higher level of national restrictions which will result in some businesses being asked to close, and to take into account the earnings of the applicants before they had lost employment.
The date your payment will be affected
If your rate changes, you will notice a difference in the amount you receive on Tuesday 27 October 2020.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is paid in arrears, with the payment week running from Friday to Thursday.
This means that any change on 16 October takes effect in payments made from 27 October.
The new payment rates will only be effective from 16 October onwards meaning that payments rates will not be backdated.
How your earnings assessed for this rate change
The department has used the calculation which gives you the highest weekly rate of income as the basis for calculating your new rate.
Employees
If you are an employee, we will examine your average gross weekly earnings in 2019, and compare it to your average gross weekly earnings in January and February 2020.
The higher earnings figure will be used to determine your new weekly payment rate.
For example, if your average gross weekly earnings were €195 in 2019 and €210 in 2020, the figure of €210 will be used.
Similarly, if your average gross weekly earnings in 2019 were higher than in 2020, the 2019 figure will be used.
Self-employed
If you are self-employed, we will use the information on 2018 and 2019 earnings that you provided to Revenue.
We will examine your average weekly income for 2018 and 2019 and the higher figure will be used to decide your rate of payment.
Both employed and self-employed in 2019
If you were both employed and self-employed in 2019, your earnings from both will be added together in order to arrive at an average weekly earnings figure .
Review of rate
If you feel you should have received the higher rate of payment, you can request a review by forwarding all supporting documents. These will be matched with Revenue records.
PUP Re-rate Requests
Contact
If you need information or further assistance please contact the DEASP Income Support Helpline.