Inclusion, Equality and Social Welfare

Children’s Allowance is awarded to married couples, civil union couples, cohabiting couples, single parents, separated parents or returned migrants, having the care and custody of their children under 16 years of age and whose total annual income of relevant year (income backdated by 2 years from date of entitlement) from employment / social security exceeds €25,318.

An Adoption Benefit may be awarded to a person who adopts a child.

The Adoption Leave Benefit may be awarded to a person who adopts a child.

An Age Pension may be awarded to a person who reaches 60 years of age, who does not have enough paid or credited Social Security Contributions to be eligible for a Contributory Retirement Pension and satisfies the Means Test.

An appeal may be lodged against a decision by the Department of Social Security before the Social Security Umpire. One may lodge an appeal on a question of law or a principle of importance emerging from a decision by the Department of Social Security according to the Social Security Act (Cap. 318). The appeal must to be lodged within 30 days from when one is informed of the decision.

Once the details are vetted a notice with the date of the sitting in front of the umpire is sent.

The focus of this service is to provide details of current and active benefits, as well as pending benefits awaiting assessment and authorisation by the Department of Social Security.

The Assistance for the Visually Impaired may be awarded to a person who is 14 years of age and over who is completely or partially visually impaired.

If you have reason to believe that a person may be committing a Social Security Benefit Fraud, you can report this breach to the Benefits Compliance Unit within the Income Support and Investigations Directorate. You may opt to make an anonymous report.

The U1 form certifies your periods of insurance and employment or self-employment completed in an EU country which will be taken into account for the award of unemployment benefits. The U1 is issued by the country where you worked and paid the relative social security contributions.