Minister Doherty Launches New Publicity Campaign for MyWelfare.ie

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty T.D., today launched a new campaign to promote the benefits of her Department’s online portal for accessing welfare services and schemes called MyWelfare.ie.

Marking the formal launch of a publicity campaign to increase awareness of MyWelfare.ie, Minister Doherty said:

“I am delighted to launch a new campaign to promote the benefits of MyWelfare.ie today, the home of welfare services – a platform which is safe, secure and accessible anytime, anywhere and on all devices. We have continued to develop the variety of services online and, as the platform has evolved, it has moved towards facilitating services such as making appointments and applying for welfare supports and schemes, to updating personal details and ordering statements”.

As part of the department’s modernisation programme and the public service reform plan, and in response to demands from people, the department has moved more and more into the delivery of its services online. Accordingly, to enable people to access personalised online welfare services, the Department built a secure, online website called MyWelfare.ie, which is accessed via the MyGovID portal. MyGovID is an integral safe and secure enabler to provide individuals with access to a wide range of online Government services.

Minister Doherty said:

“This is Public Service at its best, where we provide convenient and easy access to services so that they can be delivered efficiently and quickly. I strongly believe that our services should be built around user needs and in a way they can understand and relate to, down to things like the language we use. I am particularly pleased to see how user feedback has influenced and improved the evolution of our platform.”

The first service to go live on MyWelfare.ie was the facility for customers to make appointments for a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) or a Public Services Card (PSC). This popular service, which allows people to select a specific time and a place that best suits them for their appointment has already facilitated over 570,000 people.

People wishing to access a payment or contribution statement may also do so online with in excess of 80,000 requests facilitated to date via MyWelfare.ie.

A range of welfare services may now be applied for online including, Maternity Benefit, Paternity Benefit, Child Benefit, PRSI refunds and Jobseekers payments. The most recent service to be added is the online T12 Pension Recalculation service launched in January 2019 and over 3,500 customers have already submitted requests.

In response to commitments in both the National Disability Inclusion Strategy and the Make Work Pay Report, MyWelfare.ie now hosts a Benefit of Work Estimator for people on Disability and Illness Payments. A further estimator was added last year for people on Jobseeker and One Parent Family payments. Both estimators, which are anonymous services, show how an increase in income from employment may affect their payments and what additional in-work supports they may receive.

Minister Doherty emphasised:

“I would strongly encourage people to visit MyWelfare.ie and explore the range of services that are now available. Simple but important services like changing your address that traditionally involved a visit to an office or a letter can now be completed online. The site is a simple, easy to use one-stop-shop for many of our services.”

The Digital Services Channel Strategy which sets out the Department’s objectives and the principles that guide how online services are developed can be accessed here (Digital Services Channel Strategy).

ENDS

Note for Editors

Samples of the posters to be used in the publicity campaign are attached.

Usage of MyWelfare.ie services

MyWelfare Services in order of go live date: