The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is to be split into two rates in the coming weeks.
Cabinet is expected to sign off on extensions to both the pandemic payment (PUP) and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) when it meets later this morning.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the PUP scheme will be extended until August; however, he has confirmed that people who were working part-time before the outbreak will see a reduction in their payment.
Under the new plan, anyone who was earning less than €200 per week in January and February will be reduced to the standard Jobseekers rate of €203.
Anyone who was working full time or earning more than €200 will be kept on the €350 payment.
It comes after over 35,000 people signed off the PUP payment and returned to work.
The Department of Social Protection this week issued payments of €190.2m to 543,200 people – a drop of 36,200 on the number of people paid at the same point last week.
Meanwhile, around 508,000 people are being paid through the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. Nearly 560,000 employers are making use of the scheme.
