Number 30/2005: Social Welfare Act 2005

30 2005

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Number 30 of 2005

SOCIAL WELFARE ACT 2005

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section
1.	Definitions.
2.	Social insurance benefits (new rates).
3.	Social assistance payments (new rates).
4.	Family income supplement (new weekly rates).
5.	Employment contributions (amendment to earnings limits and ceiling).
6.	Optional contributions (amendment to income ceiling).
7.	Maternity benefit.
8.	Adoptive benefit.
9.	One-parent family payment — amendments to calculation of weekly means.
10.	Conditions for receipt — relevant payments.
11.	Carer's allowance.
12.	Supplementary welfare allowance — assessment of means improvement.
13.	Amendment to Health Contributions Act 1979.
14.	Short title and construction.

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 2

Acts Referred to
Health Contributions Act 1979	1979, No. 4
Social Welfare Act 1973	1973, No. 10
Social Welfare Act 2004	2004, No. 41
Social Welfare Acts
Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005	2005, No. 26

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Number 30 of 2005

SOCIAL WELFARE ACT 2005

		AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE SOCIAL WELFARE ACTS AND TO AMEND THE HEALTH CONTRIBUTIONS ACT 1979.
		[16th December, 2005]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

Definitions.

1. —In this Act “Principal Act” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 .

Social insurance benefits (new rates).

2. —(1) Schedule 2 to the Principal Act is amended by substituting the Parts set out in Schedule 1 to this Act for Parts 1 to 4 of the said Schedule 2.

(2) This section comes into operation—

(a) in so far as it relates to unemployment benefit, on 29 December 2005,

(b) in so far as it relates to disability benefit, health and safety benefit, injury benefit and disablement gratuity, on 2 January 2006,

(c) in so far as it relates to carer's benefit, retirement pension, invalidity pension and a payment referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of “relevant payment” in section 178 of the Principal Act, on 5 January 2006, and

(d) in so far as it relates to disablement pension, death benefit under section 81, 82 or 83 of the Principal Act, old age (contributory) pension, widow's (contributory) pension, widower's (contributory) pension and orphan's (contributory) allowance, on 6 January 2006.

Social assistance payments (new rates).

3. —(1) Schedule 4 to the Principal Act is amended by substituting the Parts set out in Schedule 2 to this Act for Parts 1 to 5 of the said Schedule 4.

(2) This section comes into operation—

(a) in so far as it relates to unemployment assistance, pre-retirement allowance and farm assist, on 28 December 2005,

(b) in so far as it relates to supplementary welfare allowance, on 2 January 2006,

(d) in so far as it relates to one-parent family payment (other than where payable in respect of a widow or widower), carer's allowance and a payment referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of “relevant payment” in section 178 of the Principal Act, on 5 January 2006, and

(e) in so far as it relates to old age (non-contributory) pension, blind pension, widow's (non-contributory) pension, widower's (non-contributory) pension, one-parent family payment payable in respect of a widow or widower and orphan's (non-contributory) pension, on 6 January 2006.

Family income supplement (new weekly rates).

4. —(1) The Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for section 228:

“228.—Subject to this Act, an allowance (in this Act referred to as ‘family income supplement’) shall be payable out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas in respect of a family where the weekly family income is less than—

(a) in the case of a family which includes only 1 child, €465,

(b) in the case of a family which includes 2 children, €510,

(d) in the case of a family which includes 4 children, €630,

(e) in the case of a family which includes 5 children, €705,

(f) in the case of a family which includes 6 children, €775,

(g) in the case of a family which includes 7 children, €845, or

(h) in the case of a family which includes 8 or more children, €905.”.

(2) This section comes into operation on 5 January 2006.

Employment contributions (amendment to earnings limits and ceiling).

5. —(1) Section 13(2) of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in paragraph (a) by substituting “€300” for “€287”,

(b) in paragraph (b) by substituting “€300” for “€287”, and

(2) This section comes into operation on 1 January 2006.

Optional contributions (amendment to income ceiling).

6. —(1) Section 29(1)(b) of the Principal Act is amended by substituting “€46,600” for “€44,180”.

(2) This section comes into operation on 1 January 2006.

Maternity benefit.

7. —(1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 47—

(i) in subsection (4)(a) by substituting “twenty-fourth” for “twenty-second”,

(ii) in subsection (5)(b) by substituting “22” for “18”, and

(iii) in subsection (5)(c)(ii)—

(I) by substituting “twentieth” for “sixteenth” in each place where it occurs, and

(II) by substituting “thirty-second” for “twenty-fourth” in each place where it occurs,

and

(b) in section 49(1)(a) by substituting “80 per cent” for “75 per cent”.

(2) The Principal Act is further amended in section 47(4)(a) (as amended by subsection (1)(a)(i) of this section) by substituting “thirty-second” for “twenty-fourth”.

(3) (a) Subsection (1)(a)(i) and (b) of this section come into operation on 1 January 2006.

(b) Subsection (1)(a)(ii) and (iii) and subsection (2) of this section come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order.

Adoptive benefit.

8. —(1) The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 58—

(i) in subsection (4)(b) by substituting “20” for “16” in each place where it occurs, and

(ii) by inserting the following after subsection (7):

“(8) Regulations may provide for the post-ponement of the payment of adoptive benefit in the event of the hospitalisation of the child in respect of whose adoption the person is entitled to that benefit, subject to the conditions and in the circumstances that may be prescribed.”,

and

(b) in section 60(1)(a) by substituting “80 per cent” for “75 per cent”.

(2) (a) Subsection (1)(a)(ii) and (b) of this section come into operation on 1 January 2006.

(b) Subsection (1)(a)(i) of this section comes into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint by order.

One-parent family payment — amendments to calculation of weekly means.

9. —The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 173(3) by inserting “, calculated or estimated in the manner that may be prescribed” before “exceed”, and

(b) in Part 3 of Schedule 3, in Rule 1(4)(a), by inserting “, calculated or estimated in the manner that may be prescribed” after “gross weekly earnings”.

Conditions for receipt — relevant payments.

10. —The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 178(1) by inserting “and section 178A” after “section”, and

(b) by inserting the following section after section 178:

“Relevant payments — conditions for receipt.

178A.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Part V of the Act of 1996—

(a) deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993 shall be payable to a woman who, in the case of a claim made on or after 31 August 1992 but before 2 January 1997, does not have an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of a prescribed amount, in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent period as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate,

(b) in the case of a woman who immediately before the commencement of section 19 of the Act of 1996 was in receipt of deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993, regulations may provide for the continued payment of deserted wife's benefit where—

(i) subject to paragraph (c), the woman has an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of an amount prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent tax year as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate, or

(ii) the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b) is not satisfied,

(c) regulations under paragraph (b) shall provide that deserted wife's benefit payable by virtue of that paragraph shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in reference 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which—

(i) the claimant has an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of the amount prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) but not in excess of the amount prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph, in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent period as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate, and

(ii) the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b) is satisfied,

but any increase of the benefit payable in accordance with subsection (3) shall be the same as if the conditions set out in paragraph (a) and subsection (2)(b) had been fully satisfied,

(d) (i) subject to subparagraph (ii), regulations may provide for entitling to deserted wife's benefit a person who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b) is not satisfied by reference to the insurance record of a person where that person, having earlier ceased to be an employed contributor, became an employed contributor as a consequence of the coming into operation of section 12 of the Social Welfare Act 1973 ,

(ii) regulations for the purposes of subparagraph (i) shall provide that deserted wife's benefit payable by virtue of that paragraph shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in reference 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b)(ii) is satisfied.

(2) The contribution conditions for deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993 are—

(a) that the husband had qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 156 contribution weeks in the period beginning with his entry into insurance and ending immediately before the relevant time, and

(b) that, if at the relevant time, 4 years or longer has elapsed since the husband's entry into insurance—

(i) the yearly average for the 3 contribution years, or (if warranted by his insurance record) 5 contribution years, ending with the end of the last complete contribution year before the relevant time is not less than 39, or

(ii) the yearly average in respect of the period commencing at the beginning of the contribution year in which his entry into insurance occurred and ending at the end of the last complete contribution year before the relevant time is not less than 48,

but, if the foregoing conditions are not satisfied on the husband's insurance record, they may be satisfied on the woman's insurance record (the husband's insurance record being disregarded).

(3) For the purposes of a payment referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘relevant payment’ in section 178, the weekly rate of payment shall be increased by the appropriate amount set out—

(a) in column (4) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 in respect of each qualified child who normally resides with the beneficiary,

(b) in column (6) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 where the beneficiary has attained pensionable age and is living alone,

(d) in column (8) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 where the beneficiary has attained pensionable age and is ordinarily resident on an island.”.

Carer's allowance.

11. —The Principal Act is amended in section 181(1)—

(a) in subparagraph (i), by deleting “and”, and

(b) by inserting the following after subparagraph (i):

“(ia) the amount set out in column (7) of that Part opposite that reference where the beneficiary has attained the age of 80 years, and”.

Supplementary welfare allowance-assessment of means improvement.

12. —Schedule 3 to the Principal Act is amended in Part 4 by substituting the following for Rule 1(2)(b)(v)(I):

“(I) an amount of €60 together with half the gross weekly earnings in excess of that amount where those earnings are not in excess of €90, from the amount of income derived when gross earnings from any employment that may be prescribed have been reduced by the aggregate of—”.

Amendment to Health Contributions Act 1979.

13. —(1) The Health Contributions Act 1979 is amended in section 7A (as amended by section 8 of the Social Welfare Act 2004 )—

(a) in paragraph (1)(a) by substituting “€440” for “€400”,

(b) in paragraph (1)(b) by substituting “€22,880” for “€20,800”, and

(2) This section comes into operation on 1 January 2006.

Short title and construction.

14. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare Act 2005 .

(2) The Social Welfare Acts and this Act (other than section 13 ) shall be read together as one.