Social Welfare Act , 1971

1 Interpretation.

1.—In this Act—

“the Act of 1935” means the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Act 1935;

“the Act of 1952” means the Social Welfare Act, 1952;

“the Act of 1966” means the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1966;

“the Act of 1970” means the Social Welfare Act, 1970.

2 Increase of rates of old age pensions.

2.—(1) Section 77 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution of “two hundred and sixty pounds and seventy-five new pence” for “two hundred and forty-seven pounds and fifteen shillings” in each place where it occurs in subsection (2) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1964),

(b) the substitution of “two hundred and forty-seven pounds and seventy-five new pence” for “two hundred and thirty-four pounds and fifteen shillings” in subsection (2),

(c) the substitution of “forty new pence” for “five shillings” where it lastly occurs in subsection (2) (b), and

(d) the substitution for the Table to subsection (2) (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the Table to this subsection.

TABLE

Rate of Pension

	Weekly rates
Means of claimant or pensioner	Claimant or pensioner, no qualified child	Claimant or pensioner, one qualified child	Claimant or pensioner, two or more qualified children
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Where the yearly means of the claimant or pensioner as duly calculated—	£	£	£
are Nil	465	540	615	}	Plus, where there are more than two qualified children, fifty new pence for each qualified child in excess of two.
exceed Nil but do not exceed £2625	440	515	590
exceed £2625 but do not exceed £5250	415	490	565
exceed £5250 but do not exceed £6550	390	465	540
exceed £6550 but do not exceed £7850	365	440	515
exceed £7850 but do not exceed £10475	340	415	490
exceed £10475 but do not exceed £11775	315	390	465
exceed £11775 but do not exceed £13075	290	365	440
exceed £13075 but do not exceed £14375	265	340	415
exceed £14375 but do not exceed £15675	240	315	390
exceed £15675 but do not exceed £16975	215	290	365
exceed £16975 but do not exceed £18275	190	265	340
exceed £18275 but do not exceed £19575	165	240	315
exceed £19575 but do not exceed £20875	140	215	290
exceed £20875 but do not exceed £22175	115	190	265
exceed £22175 but do not exceed £23475	090	165	240
exceed £23475 but do not exceed £24775	065	140	215
exceed £24775 but do not exceed £26075	040	115	190

(2) Section 8 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1924 (as amended by the Act of 1970) is hereby amended by the substitution of “two hundred and sixty pounds and seventy-five new pence” for “two hundred and forty-seven pounds and fifteen shillings” in subsection (1) (i).

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall come into operation on the 6th day of August, 1971.

3 Increase of rates of unemployment assistance.

3.—(1) In the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, for the Schedule thereto (inserted by the Act of 1970) there is hereby substituted the Schedule to this subsection.

SCHEDULE

RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE

Classes of persons to whom the rates of unemployment assistance set out in this Schedule are applicable	Weekly rate of unemployment assistance applicable to persons resident in any urban area	Weekly rate of unemployment assistance applicable to persons resident in any other place
Person without a dependant	£395	£365
Person with an adult dependant	£705	£665
Person with an adult dependant and one child dependant	£780	£740
Person with an adult dependant and two or more child dependants	£855 plus, where there are more than two child dependants, 50p for each child dependant in excess of two.	£815 plus, where there are more than two child dependants, 50p for each child dependant in excess of two.
Person with one child dependant	£485	£455
Person with two or more child dependants	£560 plus, where there are more than two child dependants, 50p for each child dependant in excess of two.	£530 plus, where there are more than two child dependants, 50p for each child dependant in excess of two.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 28th day of July, 1971.

4 Increase of certain rates of unemployment benefit.

4.—(1) In the Table to section 5 (2) of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1967, for the rates set forth therein (inserted by the Act of 1970) there are hereby substituted the rates set forth in the Table to this subsection.

TABLE

Class of Person	Weekly Rate	Increase for adult dependant (where payable)	Increase for qualified child or for each of two qualified children (where payable)	Increase for each qualified child in excess of two (where payable)
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Person entitled to an increase in respect of a qualified child but not entitled to an increase in respect of an adult dependant	£410	—	£075	£050
Any other person	£395	£310	£075	£050

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 29th day of July, 1971.

5 Increase of rates of widows' (non-contributory) pensions.

5.—(1) Section 20 (inserted by the Act of 1952) of the Act of 1935 is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution for subsection (1) (b) (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the following:

“(b) (i) where the yearly means of the widow as duly calculated do not exceed two hundred and sixty pounds and seventy-five new pence, at the rate set forth in Table B to this subsection, and

(ii) where the yearly means of the widow as duly calculated exceed two hundred and sixty pounds and seventy-five new pence, at the rate at which the pension would be payable if the yearly means of the widow as duly calculated exceeded two hundred and forty-seven pounds and seventy-five new pence but did not exceed two hundred and sixty pounds and seventy-five new pence, less twenty-five new pence for each amount (if any) of thirteen pounds by which the said yearly means exceed two hundred and sixty pounds and seventy-five new pence, any fraction of thirteen pounds being treated for this purpose as thirteen pounds; provided that if the rate calculated pursuant to this paragraph at which, but for this provision, the pension would be payable is less than forty new pence a week, the pension shall not be payable”,

and

(b) the substitution for Table B (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the following Table:

TABLE B

Weekly Rates of Widows' (Non-Contributory) Pensions

Means of Widow	Widow, no qualified child	Widow, one qualified child	Widow, two qualified children
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Where the yearly means of the widow, as duly calculated:—	£	£	£
are Nil	465	555	645	}	Plus, where there are more than two qualified children, 90 new pence for each qualified child in excess of two.
exceed Nil but do not exceed £2625	440	530	620
exceed £2625 but do not exceed £5250	415	505	595
exceed £5250 but do not exceed £6550	390	480	570
exceed £6550 but do not exceed £7850	365	455	545
exceed £7850 but do not exceed £10475	340	430	520
exceed £10475 but do not exceed £11775	315	405	495
exceed £11775 but do not exceed £13075	290	380	470
exceed £13075 but do not exceed £14375	265	355	445
exceed £14375 but do not exceed £15675	240	330	420
exceed £15675 but do not exceed £16975	215	305	395
exceed £16975 but do not exceed £18275	190	280	370
exceed £18275 but do not exceed £19575	165	255	345
exceed £19575 but do not exceed £20875	140	230	320
exceed £20875 but do not exceed £22175	115	205	295
exceed £22175 but do not exceed £23475	090	180	270
exceed £23475 but do not exceed £24775	065	155	245
exceed £24775 but do not exceed £26075	040	130	220

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 6th day of August, 1971.

6 Increase of rates of orphans' (non-contributory) pensions.

6.—(1) For the Table to section 25 (inserted by the Act of 1952) of the Act of 1935, there is hereby inserted the Table to this subsection.

TABLE

Weekly Rates of Orphans' (Non-contributory) Pensions

Means of orphan	Weekly rates
	£
Where the yearly means of the orphan as duly calculated—
do not exceed £2340	250
exceed £2340 but do not exceed £4680	205
exceed £4680 but do not exceed £7020	160
exceed £7020 but do not exceed £9360	115
exceed £9360 but do not exceed £11700	070
exceed £11700	No pension

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 6th day of August, 1971.

7 Amendment of section 6 of Act of 1952.

7.—(1) Section 6 (2) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1960) of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the substitution for the rate of voluntary contribution set forth in each paragraph mentioned in column (1) of the Table to this subsection of the rate set forth, opposite the mention of that paragraph in the said column (1), in column (2) of that Table.

TABLE

Paragraph of section 6 (2)	Rate of contribution
(1)	(2)
Paragraph (a)	thirty-seven new pence
Paragraph (b)	ninety-one new pence

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 4th day of October, 1971.

8 Amendment of section 8 of Act of 1952.

8.—Section 8 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (1) (d) of the following:

“(e) treating as paid, for the purpose of any right to benefit, employment contributions payable by an employer in respect of an insured person which have not been paid, where the failure to pay such contributions is shown not to have been with the consent or connivance of the insured person or attributable to any negligence on the part of the insured person; provided that nothing in any such regulations shall affect the liability of the employer under subsection (5) of section 6 of this Act to pay such contributions.”.

9 Amendment of section 35 of Act of 1952.

9.—Section 35 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (2) of the following:

“(2A) Where, by virtue of regulations made under section 8 of this Act—

(a) employment contributions which have not been paid have been treated as paid, or

(b) employment contributions which have been paid late have been treated as paid on the due dates,

and by reason thereof benefit which would otherwise have been lost was paid, there shall be due to the Fund by the employer the amount of the benefit which would have been so lost.”.

10 Amendment of section 52 of Act of 1952.

10.—Section 52 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution in subsection (3) for “to a fine not exceeding ten pounds” of “to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment”, and

(b) by the substitution for subsection (4) of the following:

“(4) Regulations may provide for offences consisting of contraventions of or failures to comply with regulations and for the imposition, at the discretion of the Court, on summary conviction of such offences, of fines not exceeding specified amounts not exceeding fifty pounds or of imprisonment for any term not exceeding three months or both such fines and such imprisonment, together with, in the case of continuing offences, further such fines in respect of each of the days on which the offences are continued.”.

11 Amendment of Second Schedule to Act of 1952.

11.—(1) The Second Schedule to the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the substitution, for the rate of contribution set forth in each paragraph mentioned in column (1) of the Table to this subsection, of the rate set forth opposite the mention of that paragraph in the said column (1), in column (2) of that Table.

TABLE

Paragraph of Second Schedule	Rate of Contribution
(1)	(2)
	new pence
Paragraph 1 (a)
(i) in the case of a male employed contributor	85
(i) in the case of a female employed contributor	79
Paragraph 1 (b)
(i) in the case of a male employed contributor	87
(ii) in the case of a female employed contributor	85
Paragraph 2 (a)	73
Paragraph 2 (b)	73
Paragraph 2A (a)	60
Paragraph 2A (b)	68
Paragraph 3 (a)	58
Paragraph 3 (b)	63
Paragraph 3A (a)	65
Paragraph 3A (b)	73
Paragraph 4 (a)	18
Paragraph 4 (b)	19
Paragraph 5 (b)	19
Paragraph 6 (a)	76
Paragraph 6 (b)	85
Paragraph 7 (a)	76
Paragraph 7 (b)	80

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 4th day of October, 1971.

12 Amendment of Third Schedule to Act of 1952

12.—(1) The Third Schedule to the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the substitution for Part I (inserted by the Act of 1970) of the following Part:

PART I

Rates of Periodical Benefits and of Increases Thereof