Over 5,200 additional needs payments awarded to Kerry people last year

Over 5,200 (5,219) additional needs payments were awarded to people in Kerry last year (2022).

These payments help people meet expenses that they can’t pay from their weekly income; it’s an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments.

In Kerry, in 2021 there were over 1,400 (1,497) such payments, a drop from the previous year when the figure stood at 1,970.

Nationally last year, there were more than 97,000 (97,224) additional needs payments.

The figures were provided by Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys, following a query from Labour TD Duncan Smith.