475,000 people are set to receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week, an increase of 3% on last week's total. This week's payments of €142.8 million will bring to €5.5 billion the amount the government has disbursed since the PUP scheme went live last March.
6,749 people closed their PUP claims over the past 7 days in order to return to work. The 475,364 people receiving the PUP this week represent an increase of 15,443 on the 45,9921 eligible for the benefit a week ago.
However, this figure does not include the 189,860 people recorded on the Live Register at the end of December. When PUP recipients and those on the Live Register are combined, over 665,000 people are entirely dependent on the state for income support.