Vote 37: Social Protection Budget 2026 Net Grant

01 / WHAT THE GRANT COVERS

The financial authority behind Vote 37.

Social Protection administration, income supports and transfers including provision for the Social Insurance Fund.

Approved net Exchequer supply grant

€14.066bn

This amount represents the net funding authorised in the Dáil's Revised Estimates resolution for Vote 37 for the year ending 31 December 2026. It is a ceiling on supply from the Exchequer, rather than a record of payments to final recipients.

Vote 37 is associated here with the Social protection spending sector as a navigation aid. Departmental Votes and user-facing sectors do not necessarily have identical accounting boundaries.

02 / READ THE RIGHT NUMBER

Why the figure may differ from the sector total.

The spending atlas is based on gross public expenditure. The amount above is a net voted Exchequer supply grant. They describe different things and cannot be interchanged.

This Vote: €14.066bn

The 2026 Dáil-approved net supply-grant ceiling for this specified department or agency, under the 25 March resolution.

Sector: €28.9bn

The rounded social protection sector gross expenditure estimate in the separate official sector dataset. It is not an amount paid from this Vote alone.

Current and capital

Operational costs and longer-lived investment can both be included in voted expenditure. This resolution provides the net grant, not an itemised, reconciled current/capital subhead table for this individual Vote.

Social insurance and non-voted items

Government expenditure can include spending from the Social Insurance Fund, the National Training Fund and direct Central Fund charges. Their treatment differs from ordinary annual Vote supply grants.

03 / THE OTHER VOTES

Compare net grant ceilings on the same basis.

The bars below use the same 2026 Dáil resolution, so they are a meaningful comparison of net grant authorisations. They are not comparisons of audited actual expenditure or an allocation of your tax.

Vote 38 · Health → €26.940bn

Vote 31 · Transport → €4.740bn

Explore all 37 Vote grants →

04 / SEE PROGRAMME-LEVEL REPORTING

What do more granular allocations tell us?

Our programme register identifies independently sourced 2026 funding announcements in related service areas. These figures are not automatically formal subheads of Vote 37, and may overlap with one another.

2026 programme estimate State pension expenditure Over €12bn Pensions form the largest social protection programme grouping, reflecting support for people reaching pension age and qualifying under State Pension rules. The Minister described spending as above €12 billion and just under 42% of the department's 2026 estimate. Read the accounting caveat → 2026 programme estimate Working-age income supports About €4.45bn Working-age supports include jobseeker payments, lone-parent supports, maternity and paternity-related benefits and other qualifying income support. The official committee statement puts 2026 estimated spending at €4.45 billion. Read the accounting caveat → 2026 programme estimate Children and family payments About €3.15bn The children and families programme includes Child Benefit and other qualifying family payments. The Minister estimated €3.15 billion for 2026, nearly eleven per cent of the social protection budget. Read the accounting caveat → 2026 subprogramme estimate Child Benefit Over €2.2bn Child Benefit is a monthly cash transfer for eligible children. The Minister stated that more than €2.2 billion of the children-and-families programme would go to this payment in 2026. Read the accounting caveat → 2026 programme estimate Illness, disability and carers' payments About €6.5bn This grouping supports people whose health or caring responsibilities affect income. It includes multiple social insurance and social assistance schemes, not one standard payment or an individual disability-services provider. Read the accounting caveat →

Browse all 49 sourced allocations →Explore social protection →

05 / CHECK THE DOCUMENT

Exact source, exact definition.

Approval: Dáil Éireann Revised Estimates for Public Services 2026, resolution passed 25 March 2026; Vote 37.

Authorised net supply grant: €14.066bn. The original figure is €14,066,335,000; no estimate has been created by Compound.

Read the official Dáil resolution (Vote 37) →. Publication checked 2026-11-13.

The source supplies net grants and may separately authorise the application of unused capital appropriation. It does not establish all final outturns, all Vote subheads or a department-wide reconciled allocation hierarchy. See the Vote register's gross-versus-net explanation.