S.I. No. 103 of 2001

SOCIAL WELFARE (CONSOLIDATED PAYMENTS PROVISIONS) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 1) (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) REGULATIONS, 2001

The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 3 (as amended by section 19 of the Social Welfare Act, 1999 ( section 17 of the Social Welfare Act, 2000 ( section 11 of the Social Welfare Act, 1999 ) and 210 (as amended by section 11 of the Social Welfare Act, 2000 ) of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993 (No. 27 of 1993) and Rule 1(8) (as amended by section 11 of the Social Welfare Act, 2000 ) and Rule 4(1B) (as amended by section 12 of the Social Welfare Act, 1999 ) of Part II of the Third Schedule to the said Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and construction.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No.1) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations, 2001.

(2) These Regulations and the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) Regulations 1994 to 2001 shall be construed together as one and may be cited as the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) Regulations, 1994 to 2001.

Commencement.

2. These Regulations come into operation -

(a)  in so far as they relate to unemployment assistance, pre-retirement allowance and farm assist, on 28 March 2001,

(b)  in so far as they relate to unemployment benefit, on 29 March 2001,

(c)  in so far as they relate to disability benefit or injury benefit, on 2 April 2001,

(d)  in so far as they relate to disability allowance, on 4 April 2001,

(e)  in so far as they relate to carer's benefit, retirement pension, invalidity pension one-parent family payment (other than where payable in respect of a widow or widower) and carer's allowance on 5 April 2001, and

(f)  in so far as they relate to old age (contributory) pension, one-parent family payment payable in respect of a widow or widower and unemployability supplement on 6 April 2001.

Definitions.

3. In these Regulations “the Principal Regulations” means the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 417 of 1994 ).

Qualified adult-amendment of income test.

4. Article 6B of the Principal Regulations (inserted by article 3 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 95 of 1996 )) is amended by the substitution for sub-article (2) of the following sub-article:

“(2) In calculating or estimating the weekly income under sub-article (1), any sums received by way of disablement benefit under section 54, death benefit under section 62, child benefit, orphan's (contributory) allowance, orphan's (non-contributory) pension under the Principal Act, sums received by way of assistance in the maintenance at home of handicapped children under section 61 of the Health Act, 1970 ( No. 1 of 1970 ) and known as domiciliary care allowance or sums received by way of payment from a health board in respect of a child who is boarded out shall be disregarded.”.

Means assessment.

5. Article 89(2) (as amended by article 6 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 4) (Carer's Allowance) Regulations, 1999 ( S.I. No. 256 of 1999 )) of the Principal Regulations is amended by the substitution for “£75” of “£125” and for “£150” of “£250”.

Continued entitlement to payment - one-parent family payment.

6. Article 83A of the Principal Regulations (inserted by article 6 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 10) (One-Parent Family Payment) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 426 of 1996 )) is amended by the substitution for sub-articles (1) and (2) of the following sub-articles;

“(1) Subject to sub-article (3), where a person who has been in receipt of one-parent family payment for a period of 52 consecutive weeks, ceases to be entitled to the payment by virtue of her gross weekly earnings exceeding the amount specified in section 158(3), she shall, notwithstanding the provisions of the said section, continue to be entitled to the said payment, calculated in accordance with sub-article (2), for a period of 12 months commencing from the date on which, but for this article, she would have ceased to be so entitled:

Provided that she continues to satisfy the conditions for entitlement other than that specified in section 158(3).

(2) In the case of a person to whom sub-article (1) applies, one-parent family payment shall be payable at an amount equal to 50 per cent. of the weekly rate payable to the qualified parent immediately before the day on which, but for this article, the qualified parent would have ceased to be entitled to the payment:

Provided that the amount so payable shall be rounded up to the nearest 10p where it is a multiple of 5p but not also a multiple of 10p and shall be rounded to the nearest 10p where it is not a multiple of 5p or 10p.

(3) Where a person has been entitled to a payment in accordance with sub-article (1) for a period of twelve months (whether continuous or not) she shall not be entitled to any further payment under that sub-article.”.

Payment after death.

7. Article 121(1) of the Principal Regulations is amended by the insertion in paragraph (a) after “blind pension” of “, carer's benefit”.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the making of the foregoing Regulations.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations provide for miscellaneous changes to the Social Welfare code consequent on Budget 2001 and certain provisions contained in the Social Welfare Act, 2001 .

The Regulations provide for the following:

-  the disregard of foster care allowance received from a Health Board in calculating a spouse's income for the purposes of the Qualified Adult Allowance.

-  an amendment to the conditions regarding transitional payments in respect of One-Parent Family payments. Where a qualified parent's income exceeds £230.76 per week he or she may be entitled to continued payment at half the rate previously applicable. Under current Regulations this payment may be made for up 52 weeks. In some cases, the employment may be temporary and when it ceases the person can again become eligible for OFP. If they subsequently obtain further employment they may again become entitled to the transitional payment.

These Regulations provide that in future the maximum duration of payment under these Regulations may not exceed 12 months, whether in one period or an aggregate of periods, over the life of the claim.

-  for the purposes of carer's allowance, an increase of £50 per week for single persons and £100 for couples in the weekly income disregards, bringing them to £125 and £250 per week respectively.

-  the extension of the payment after death provisions to include carer's Benefit.