Nine money changes to hit Irish this month – including social welfare boost

THERE’S a number of money changes set to hit thousands of Irish households this month.

While there are some upcoming price increases, a savings boost and a social welfare increase will help some families off set the cost.

Nights out are about to get more expensive as yet another price increase on pints will come in this month following an increase just last month.

Sports and music fans will also notice a pinch on the pocket as the GAA have announced match ticket price increases and Spotify look set to increase prices.

Energy bill prices and mortgage rates and savings rates are also set to drop although life insurance prices will rise.

A social welfare boost to help parents with school-going children is open for applications this month, which could save parents hundreds.

Here’s the key changes you need to known to plan out your monthly costs.

Alcohol

The price of of a pint is set to rise again this month by six cent.

It comes after another price increase by Diageo who brew beers such as Guinness.

Heineken have announced that both Heineken and Heineken 00 will rise in price from June 4.

Their beers Coors, Birra Moretti, Murphy’s, Foster’s, Beamish, Tiger, Lagunitas IPA and Cute Hoor will all be affected.

Cider is not safe either as Orchard Thieves will see a price hike too.

GAA tickets

The GAA have announced a ticket price increase that will leave sports fans paying more for tickets for the rest of the summer, including the All Ireland Finals.

The Association made the announcement last week which will see stand tickets increasing to €100 and terrace tickets to €55.

Tickets for quarter-finals and semi-finals will also increase by €5.

Spotify

Spotify have just hiked their US and UK subscription prices – and Ireland could be next.

The streaming giant raised their US prices this week from $10.99 to $11.99 and the UK price from £10.99 to £11.99 last month.

When prices were raised overseas last year the EU prices also saw an increase.

Based on this trend it seems likely that a price increase of around a euro could be coming for Irish music fans who currently pay €10.99 for a basic premium subscription.

Mortgage rates

PTSB are set to slash their mortgage rates by 1.05 percentage points.

It comes as other huge names such as AIB, EBS and Bank of Ireland have reduced their prices.

First-time buyers with a 10 per cent deposit will see PTSB’s three-year fixed rate is reducing by 0.60 percentage points to 4.50 per cent.

For those with a 20 per cent deposit, the rate is reducing by 1.05 percentage points to 3.80 per cent.

Two-year fixed rates will reduce by up to 0.25 percentage points and seven-year fixed rates will drop by up to 0.35 percentage points.

Savings rates

Bank of Ireland have announced the introduction of two new deposit rates that will pay up to three per cent to savers.

The new rates will be available from June 6 with no upward limit on funds that can be deposited and 25 per cent of the funds can still be withdrawn during the term.

The new two-year fixed-term deposit rate for personal business customers sees three per cent APR.

There is also a new one-year fixed-term deposit rate for personal and business customers of 2.5 per cent.

Back to School Allowance

Irish parents can apply for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance from June 10.

It will see a €160 or €285 one-off payment to take the pressure of back to school clothing costs off parents.

Your child qualifies if they are aged between four and 17 on September 30 in the year you apply.

Dependants aged between 18 and 22 who are returning to full-time second-level education in a recognised school or college in the autumn of the year you apply also qualify.

Your household must also be within the BSCFA income threshold along with the other criteria which can all be found on the gov.ie website.

You should automatically receive notice of this payment in June but if not you can apply on MyWelfare.

Carers Support Grant

The Carers Support Grant will be given out this year on June 6 seeing a €1,850 payout to ease the cost of expenses associated with caring.

It is not means tested and those in receipt of the Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, or Domiciliary Care Allowance will automatically receive the payment.

If you do not receive these payments by are a carer you can fill out an online form and all information can be found here.

Energy Bills

There is some good news this month when it comes to energy bills.

The Index of Consumer Prices May 2024 by The Central Statistics Office show that energy bill prices decreased slightly over the month of May.

There was a decrease of 0.3 per cent over last month and a 3.6 per cent decrease over the past year.

SSE Airtricity have announced they are slashing their prices from July 1, which will save some Irish households hundreds.

Making the announcement last week they revealed their electricity and fuel prices would be coming down by 10 per cent each.

So while prices may remain the same this month the average SSE customer can expect to save around €150 on electricity and €100 on gas from next month according to Bonkers.ie.

Many companies are also running special promotions which can help you save.

Bord Gais energy are offering new customers up to 33 per cent discount on standard electricity rates and Electric Ireland are offering a 28 per cent discount on electricity and dual fuel tariffs and a 22 per cent discount on gas.

Life Insurance

Irish Life Insurance are set to hike their prices from July 1 by around 5.3% on gross adult premiums.

Price increase across various plans will range from between 1.6 per cent and 7.9 per cent for new or renewing customers.

This is the fourth price increase by the company over the past 18 months and follows recent increased pricing from both Laya and VHI by about 7 percent.

Dermot Goode a health insurance consultant with Lockton Group has advised we could see more increases in October of this year with the Budget.