Press release
Minister Humphreys highlights significant levels of engagement with online Welfare services
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys today acknowledged the achievement of significant milestones for the department’s online services with over 10 million transactions on MyWelfare, in addition to over 20 million engagements through the Welfare Partners portal by business partners.
Marking the achievements, Minister Humphreys said:
“I am delighted to see the high level of interactions with the department’s digital platforms with over 10 million customer transactions through MyWelfare, and some 20 million engagements supported through Welfare Partners.
“This demonstrates the importance of the provision of digital channels to support our citizens in their engagement with the department’s services.
“We will continue to build our online supports and aim to have 90% of the department’s appropriate services available online by 2030.”
MyWelfare provides people with secure online access to apply for and manage their interaction with a wide range of the department’s services, at a time and place convenient for them.
Launched in 2015, online services have expanded to include Maternity Benefit, Paternity Benefit, Parents Benefit, Child Benefit, PRSI refunds, Jobseekers’ payments, Working Family Payment, Illness Benefit and Fuel Allowance, amongst many others.
Part-time or casual workers receiving jobseekers’ payments submitted over 82,000 jobseeker declarations through MyWelfare in January 2023. In 2022, over 110,000 customers updated their bank details online, the majority of which can be attributed to Ulster Bank and KBC. In addition, more than 520,000 payment statements and 340,000 contribution statement transactions have been facilitated via MyWelfare.
In recognition of the importance of the service for Welfare Partners, the Minister commented:
“Treatment Benefit is one of our most successful online services that we have delivered through Welfare Partners. When Budget 2017 extended and restored Treatment Benefits, the department recognised that a new application process was needed to support this much improved scheme. The development of Welfare Partners has been key to the support of Treatment Benefits.”
Over 98% of Treatment Benefit claims are now processed online each month. On average there were over 332,000 Treatment Benefit transactions completed each month in 2022.
The Welfare Partners portal delivers a valuable digital channel for the department’s business partners including Opticians, Dentists, Audiologists, and hair replacement providers who offer important services to the department’s customers.
The service also supports Community Employment Programmes, Wage Subsidy Scheme applications for employers, and Redundancy and Insolvency payments.
Minister Humphreys concluded:
“We have worked to provide convenient and easy access to welfare services, and I am encouraged to see that people are responding by using the department’s online platforms in increasing numbers. I would strongly encourage people to visit MyWelfare and explore the growing range of services that are now available.”
In addition, since October 2019, GPs can submit e-certificates directly from their practice which leads to a more efficient processing of claims for the customer. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early March 2020, there was a large increase in registered GPs using the facility as most GPs were no longer conducting patient assessments in person during the pandemic.
Currently, approximately 92% of the total medical certs from GPs for Illness Benefit and Occupational Illness Benefit claims are submitted by e-Certification.