Cost of living crisis

Social welfare increases may kick in ‘immediately’ after Budget, Varadkar says

Tánaiste says bigger social welfare package needed to address rising cost of living

Varadkar said lower income families required the greatest help in the forthcoming budget to respond to the rising cost of living but said the level of inflation those householders were facing wasn’t that different from middle- and higher-income families. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Social welfare increases set to be announced in October's budget could be introduced before the end of 2022 rather than from January onwards, Leo Varadkar has said.

The Tánaiste said a bigger social welfare package than that in last year’s budget was needed to address the rising cost of living with inflation now running at 8.3 per cent.

Last year’s package provided a €5 increase for about 1.4 million recipients making it the largest welfare ...