THE weekly €33 Fuel Allowance boost will stop being paid out to over 400,000 Irish households in just a few weeks time, it has been confirmed.
The cash boost is a payment designed to help people with the cost of heating their home in the winter months.
The Fuel Allowance season started on September 23 of 2024.
People can opt to receive the payment at a rate of €33 weekly or in two lump sums of €462 each, which are handed out in September and January of every year.
However, those who have opted to receive the payment weekly will see the cash boost come to an end in just a few weeks, on April 4.
Thousands more people qualified for the scheme this year after the government reduced the eligibility age by four years in the budget.
The Fuel Allowance payment was extended to those aged 66 and over as part of Budget 2025 negotiations.
The means test disregard was previously for over 70s.
Now, people aged under 66 will have to meet certain eligibility requirements for the payment.
This includes living alone or living with specific people or getting a qualifying means payment.
People on the Carer’s Allowance were also deemed eligible for the Fuel Allowance boost, providing they meet the criteria.
To qualify for Fuel Allowance, you must be living alone, getting a qualifying payment – unless you are 66 or over – and satisfy a means test.
If you apply for Fuel Allowance after the start of the season, it will not be backdated.
You do not need to reapply for Fuel Allowance each year as long as your circumstances remain the same and you continue to get the same social welfare payment.
PAYMENT HANDED OUT EARLY
It comes after this weekend saw a shake-up in social welfare payments.
The government confirmed that every single cash boost was to be paid out early ahead of the St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday weekend.
All Intreo centres, local branch offices, post offices and banks were closed yesterday for the St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday.
They reopened again this morning but thousands of people expecting money to land into their accounts on Monday would have received the cash three days early.
Anyone who was due to get a payment on Monday should have gotten their payment on Friday.
