Christmas Bonus
A once-off double week payment made in early December to people on a long-term social welfare payment. You do not apply. It is paid automatically if you qualify.
- Type
- Not means-tested
- Paid
- No fixed amount or schedule
- Taxable
- No
- Administered by
- Department of Social Protection
How much is Christmas Bonus?
100% of your weekly payment, minimum €20
In 2025 the Christmas Bonus was 100% of your normal weekly payment, with a minimum of €20. The Bonus is announced in each Budget and is not guaranteed from year to year. The 2026 Bonus has not been confirmed at the time of writing. If an Increase for a Qualified Adult is paid directly to your partner, they get their own Bonus. If you hold two eligible payments, you get a Bonus on both.
Who can get Christmas Bonus
- You must be getting a qualifying long-term social welfare payment.
- Short-term payments such as Illness Benefit do not usually qualify.
- You do not need to apply. It is paid automatically with your usual payment.
- It is normally paid in the first week of December.
Is Christmas Bonus means tested?
The Christmas Bonus is not separately means-tested. It follows whatever qualifying payment you already get.
Does your payment qualify?
14 of the payments on this site qualify outright and 5 qualify once you have been on them long enough. The rest do not. This is the Department's own list, checked on 12 August 2026.
| Payment | Christmas Bonus |
|---|---|
| Bereaved Partner's (Contributory) Pension | Paid |
| Blind Person's Pension | Paid |
| Carer's Allowance | Paid Half-rate Carer's Allowance qualifies too, and it is paid on top of your primary payment's Bonus rather than instead of it. |
| Carer's Benefit | Paid |
| Disability Allowance | Paid |
| Domiciliary Care Allowance | Paid DCA is paid monthly, so its Bonus is 100% of the weekly DCA rate and is worked out separately from any other payment you get. |
| Farm Assist | Paid |
| Guardian's Payment | Paid Both the Contributory and Non-Contributory Guardian's Payment qualify. |
| Invalidity Pension | Paid |
| Jobseeker's Transitional Payment | Paid |
| One-Parent Family Payment | Paid |
| Partial Capacity Benefit | Paid |
| State Pension (Contributory) | Paid |
| State Pension (Non-Contributory) | Paid |
| Back to Education Allowance | Paid, if you meet a condition You need to have been getting the Allowance for at least 12 months (312 days) if you came from a jobseeker's payment. Time on that jobseeker's payment can count towards the 12 months. |
| Back to Work Enterprise Allowance | Paid, if you meet a condition You need to have been getting the Allowance for at least 12 months (312 days) if you came from a jobseeker's payment. Time on that jobseeker's payment can count towards the 12 months. |
| Illness Benefit | Paid, if you meet a condition Only if you have been getting Illness Benefit for 12 months or more. |
| Jobseeker's Allowance | Paid, if you meet a condition Only if you have been getting Jobseeker's Allowance for 12 months (312 days) or more. |
| Supplementary Welfare Allowance | Paid, if you meet a condition Only if you have been getting Supplementary Welfare Allowance for 12 months (364 days) or more. |
| Additional Needs Payment | Not paid A once-off payment for an exceptional expense rather than a weekly payment, so there is no weekly rate for a Bonus to double. |
| Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance | Not paid An annual lump sum paid over the summer, not a weekly payment. |
| Carer's Support Grant | Not paid An annual grant paid in June, not a weekly payment. If you also get Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit, the Bonus is paid on that. |
| Child Benefit | Not paid |
| Free Travel | Not paid Not a cash payment, so there is no weekly amount for a Bonus to double. |
| Fuel Allowance | Not paid The Department names Fuel Allowance explicitly as not a qualifying payment. This is the one exclusion it states outright, which suggests it is the one people most often expect to qualify. |
| Household Benefits Package | Not paid Utility allowances and a TV licence rather than a weekly cash payment. The Bonus is paid on the primary payment you hold it alongside, where that payment qualifies. |
| Jobseeker's Benefit | Not paid Worth knowing: Jobseeker's Allowance does qualify after 12 months, and so does Jobseeker's Transitional Payment. Jobseeker's Benefit is not on the list. |
| Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit | Not paid A short-term earnings-related payment, and not on the Department's list. |
| Living Alone Allowance | Not paid Not a payment in its own right, so it is not listed separately. It is an increase paid with a primary payment, and the Bonus is 100% of your normal weekly payment. |
| Maternity Benefit | Not paid |
| Medical Card | Not paid Not a cash payment, so there is no weekly amount for a Bonus to double. |
| Parent's Benefit | Not paid |
| Paternity Benefit | Not paid |
| Rent Supplement | Not paid Not on the list. Supplementary Welfare Allowance itself does qualify after 12 months. |
| Treatment Benefit Scheme | Not paid Not a cash payment, so there is no weekly amount for a Bonus to double. |
| Working Family Payment | Not paid |
Other payments that qualify
These also get the Bonus. They do not have their own page here yet.
- Back to Work Family Dividend
- Benefit Payment for 65 Year Olds
- Beneficiary of Temporary Protection Weekly Payment
- Bereaved Partner's (Non-Contributory) Pension
- Community Employment
- Daily Expenses Allowance, for 12 months or more
- Death Benefit Scheme, under the Occupational Injuries Scheme
- Deserted Wife's Allowance and Deserted Wife's Benefit
- Disablement Benefit
- Job Initiative Scheme
- Magdalene Commission Scheme
- Rural Social Scheme
- Tús
- VTOS or Youthreach training allowance, for at least 12 months and with an underlying qualifying payment
- Work Placement Experience Programme, where your primary payment qualifies
The Bonus is announced in each Budget and is not guaranteed from year to year. This list is the one that applied to the 2025 Bonus. Re-verify it against the source after Budget 2027 on 6 October 2026.
Things people get caught by
- If you get two eligible payments (for example One-Parent Family Payment plus half-rate Carer's Allowance) you get a Bonus on both.
- The Bonus depends on a Budget decision each year. It has been paid at 100% in recent years but that is a political choice, not an entitlement.
What else you might get
Payments interact. These are the ones that commonly go with Christmas Bonus.
- Fuel Allowance
Runs over the same winter period.