How we source this
Every euro figure on benefits.ie comes from an official source. In practice that means three: Citizens Information, which publishes the rates and rules; gov.ie, which hosts the application forms and the Department's own service pages; and the HSE, for the medical card. Nothing else. We do not repeat rates from other websites, blogs, charity PDFs or news articles.
Where a page tells you to apply online, that link goes to MyWelfare, the Department's own service. You may also see Department email addresses ending @welfare.ie on our contact pages — that is a mail domain rather than a website, so there is nothing there to read.
That rule exists because of what is currently ranking. At the time of writing, page one of Google for "carers allowance rates" included a commercial care provider quoting €248 a week when the rate was €270, and a downloadable PDF quoting Domiciliary Care Allowance at €309.50 a month when it was €380. Both looked authoritative. Both were wrong by more than a year.
Three dates, not one
Most sites show a rate. We show a rate and three dates, because a number without its dates cannot be checked.
- Effective from
- The date the rate itself came into force — normally 1 January after a Budget.
- Checked
- The date a person last compared our figure against the official page.
- Source page last edited
- When the government's own page was last updated. Occasionally that is older than you would expect, and you deserve to know.
One rate store, not a hundred pages
No euro figure is typed into the text of a page. Everything renders from a single structured store of rates, each with its own effective date and source URL. When a Budget changes a payment, one file changes and every page that mentions it is correct — including this one.
The rate figures are harvested from the official pages by a script and then promoted into the store by a person. That gap is deliberate. An automated scraper writing straight to a live page is how a wrong number reaches someone deciding whether they can afford to take a job.
What we will not do
- Publish a figure we have not seen on an official page.
- Keep a rate on the site without showing when it was last checked.
- Tell you that you qualify for something. Only the Department of Social Protection can decide that.
- Quietly overwrite last year’s rate. Rate history is kept, because "what was it in 2025" is a real question.
Sources used across the site
- www.citizensinformation.ie
- www.gov.ie
- www2.hse.ie
All rates last checked
This is information, not advice
benefits.ie explains how payments work. It cannot tell you what you are entitled to, and it is not a substitute for the Department of Social Protection, your Intreo centre or your local Citizens Information Centre. If a decision depends on these numbers — especially a decision about taking a job or giving one up — confirm them with the Department before you act.