The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 includes a commitment for the Department of Social Protection to "Consider and prepare a report for Government on the potential application of the benchmarking approach to other welfare payments".
In response to the recommendations from the Commission on Pensions, a series of reforms to the State Pension system were announced in September 2022. As part of this, it was decided that a smoothed earnings method to calculating a benchmarked/indexed rate of State Pension payments would be introduced as an input to the annual budget process from 2023.
Following on from this, my Department is finalising a report on benchmarking and indexing working age social protection rates. I expect that it will be submitted to me shortly. I will carefully and thoroughly evaluate it to determine the best way to utilise its findings and identify those that warrant further consideration.
It is my intention that the report's findings will guide decisions regarding potential changes to working age social protection payments, particularly in the lead-up to Budget 2026 and future Budgets. However, any prospective changes will need to be evaluated and considered within the broader context of overall policy and budgetary considerations.
