Social Welfare (Supplementary Welfare Allowances) Act , 1975

1 Interpretation.

1.—In this Act—

“the Act of 1939” means the Public Assistance Act, 1939;

“adult dependant” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10 of this Act;

“appointed day” means the day appointed by the Minister by order under section 28 of this Act to be the appointed day for the purposes of this Act and different days may be appointed for different purposes of this Act;

“beneficiary” has the meaning assigned to it by section 17 of this Act;

“child dependant” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10 of this Act;

“former beneficiary” has the meaning assigned to it by section 25 of this Act;

“health board” means a health board within the meaning of the Health Act, 1970;

“home assistance” means home assistance within the meaning of the Act of 1939;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Social Welfare;

“prescribe” means prescribe by regulations;

“public assistance authority” means a public assistance authority within the meaning of section 8 of the Act of 1939, as extended by section 7 of the Health Authorities Act, 1960 and section 84 of the Health Act, 1970;

“supplementary welfare allowance” means an allowance in cash or in kind granted under this Act.

2 Entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance.

2.—Subject to the provisions of this Act, every person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet his needs and the needs of any adult or child dependant of his shall be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance.

3 Exclusion of persons receiving full-time education.

3.—(1) Any person who is receiving full-time instruction by day at any university, college, school or other educational establishment shall not be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance.

(2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section are without prejudice to the entitlement of any person to receive supplementary welfare allowance in respect of a person referred to in that subsection who is his adult or child dependant.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, supplementary welfare allowance may, in a case in which there are exceptional circumstances, be granted to a person who would be entitled to receive supplementary welfare allowance but for the provisions of the said subsection (1).

4 Exclusion of persons in full-time employment.

4.—(1) Subject to the provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of this section, a person shall not be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance in relation to any period during which he is engaged in remunerative full-time work.

(2) The Minister may by regulations provide for the postponement of the operation of subsection (1) of this section in respect of any class of persons becoming engaged in remunerative full-time work until such period after the commencement of the engagement as may be specified in the regulations.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply in the case of any person engaged in remunerative full-time work where the earning power of such person is, by reason of any physical or mental disability, substantially reduced in comparison with the earning power of other persons engaged in similar work.

5 Persons affected by trade disputes.

5.—(1) In any case where by reason of a stoppage of work due to a trade dispute at his place of employment, a person is without employment for any period during which the stoppage continues, and such person has not, during that stoppage, become bona fide employed elsewhere in the occupation which he usually follows, or has not become regularly engaged in some other occupation, his needs for that period shall be disregarded for the purpose of ascertaining his entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance except in so far as such needs include the need to provide for his adult or child dependants.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to any person who is not participating in or financing or directly interested in the trade dispute which caused the stoppage of work and does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately before the commencement of the stoppage, there were members employed at his place of employment any of whom are participating in or financing or directly interested in the dispute.

(3) In this section—

“place of employment” in relation to any person means the factory, workshop, farm or other premises or place at which he was employed, but, where separate branches of work which are commonly carried on as separate businesses in separate premises or at separate places are in any case carried on in separate departments on the same premises or at the same place, each of those departments shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a separate factory or workshop or farm or separate premises or a separate place, as the case may be;

“trade dispute” has the meaning assigned to it by section 17 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952.

6 Administration.

6.—(1) Subject to the general direction and control of the Minister, each health board established under section 4 of the Health Act, 1970, shall, in respect of its functional area, be responsible for the administration of the functions relating to supplementary welfare allowance and other functions performable under this Act.

(2) Every health board shall grant to every person in its functional area who is eligible therefor such supplementary welfare allowance as is determined, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, to be due to such person.

(3) Any doubt or dispute as to which health board shall be responsible for the provision of supplementary welfare allowance to a particular person or to persons of a particular class shall be decided by the Minister.

(4) Any function with respect to the determination of the entitlement of any person to supplementary welfare allowance and the amount of any such allowance shall, subject to section 7 of this Act, be a function of the chief executive officer (within the meaning of section 13 of the Health Act, 1970) of the health board.

7 Appeals.

7.—(1) Where a person is dissatisfied with the determination by an officer of a health board of a claim by him for supplementary welfare allowance an appeal shall lie against such determination to a person (being either another officer of the health board or a person not such an officer) appointed or designated by the Minister.

(2) The Minister may by regulations made under section 21 of this Act provide for the making and determination of appeals under this section.

8 Conditions for grant of supplementary welfare allowance.

8.—A health board may, subject to regulations made by the Minister under section 21 of this Act, determine that a person shall not be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance unless—

(a) he is registered for employment in such manner as the Minister may prescribe, and

(b) he makes application for any statutory or other benefits or assistance to which he may be entitled including such benefits or assistance from countries other than the State.

9 Calculation of supplementary welfare allowance.

9.—(1) The amount of supplementary welfare allowance to which a person is entitled shall be the amount by which his means fall short of his needs, and for the purpose of ascertaining that amount—

(a) the weekly needs of a person shall, subject to any payment pursuant to the provisions of section 11 of this Act, be taken to be:

(i) in the case of a person who has no means, such of the amounts specified in the Table to section 10 (1) of this Act as is appropriate, or

(ii) in the case of a person who has means, such of the amounts specified in the Table to section 10 (1) of this Act as would be appropriate in his case if he had no means, less the amount of his weekly means,

(b) the means of any person shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of section 12 of this Act.

(2) In calculating the amount of supplementary welfare allowance payable to any person, the following provisions shall apply—

(a) where the weekly amount of any allowance would be less than five new pence, no allowance shall be payable;

(b) where the weekly amount of any allowance exceeds five new pence but is not a multiple of five new pence, the amount by which such allowance exceeds a multiple of five new pence shall be disregarded;

(c) where a husband and wife are members of the same household, their needs and means shall be aggregated and shall be regarded as the needs and means of the husband, or of the wife, if she is the claimant;

(d) in the case of a person with a child dependant, his needs shall be taken to include the needs of that child dependant;

(e) where the needs of any person are taken into account in determining the entitlement of any other person to supplementary welfare allowance, only such other person shall be entitled to an allowance.

10 Weekly amounts of supplementary welfare allowance for persons of no means.

10.—(1) The weekly amount of supplementary welfare allowance payable to a person who has no means as determined under this Act shall, subject to any payment pursuant to section 11 of this Act, be, in the case of a person of any class mentioned in column (1) of the Table to this subsection, at the weekly amount set out in column (2) of the said Table opposite that mention in the said column (1).

TABLE

WEEKLY AMOUNTS OF SUPPLEMENTARY WELFARE ALLOWANCE

Classes of persons to whom the amounts of supplementary welfare allowance are applicable	Weekly amount of supplementary welfare allowance
(1)	(2)
Person without a dependant	£775
Person with an adult dependant	£1350
Person with an adult dependant and one child dependant	£1600
Person with an adult dependant and two or more child dependants	£18.50
	plus, where there are more than two child dependants £190 for each child dependant in excess of two.
Person with one child dependant	£1040
Person with two or more child dependants	£1290
	plus, where there are more than two child dependants, £190 for each child dependant in excess of two.

(2) In this Act—

“adult dependant” means—

(a) in the case of a married man, his wife if she is living with him or is wholly or mainly maintained by him,

(b) in the case of a married woman, her husband if he is incapable of self-support by reason of some physical or mental infirmity and is wholly or mainly maintained by her, and

(c) in the case of a widower or unmarried man, a female person (being a person who has attained the age of sixteen years) having the care of his child dependants and wholly or mainly maintained by him;

“child dependant” means, in relation to a person, any child, not being an adult dependant, who has not attained the age of eighteen years and who is dependent upon that person for support.

(3) The Minister may, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, by regulations vary the weekly amounts of supplementary welfare allowance specified in column (2) of the Table to subsection (1) of this section, but not so as to reduce any amount specified therein.

11 Additions to weekly amount of supplementary welfare allowance and other income.

11.—(1) Where the weekly amount of supplementary welfare allowance, if any, payable to a person pursuant to section 9 of this Act, and any other income, including any payment by way of benefit or assistance under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1975, or under any other statute, of a person, is not sufficient to meet that person's needs, then—

(a) in any case where such person is in receipt of supplementary welfare allowance the weekly amount of such allowance payable to such person may, subject to the provisions of this section, be increased, or

(b) in any other case, a weekly payment of supplementary welfare allowance may be made, subject to the provisions of this section, to supplement that person's other income.

(2) The Minister may, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, make regulations prescribing—

(a) the circumstances under which a payment may be made to any person pursuant to subsection (1) of this section.

(b) the amounts of payments to be made either generally or in relation to a particular class of person.

(3) Regulations under subsection (2) of this section may provide for the granting of allowances in kind in relation to specified needs and for all matters ancillary to and consequent on the provision of such allowances.

12 Calculation of means.

12.—(1) The weekly means of a person for the purpose of ascertaining his entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.

(2) In calculating the weekly means of a person, account shall be taken of the following:

(a) all income in cash, including the net cash value of any non-cash earnings derived from personal exertions and the actual or estimated amount of any income as head of the household, whether as contributions to the expenses of the household or otherwise, but excluding—

(i) any sums received by way of allowance under the Social Welfare (Children's Allowances) Acts, 1944 to 1975,

(ii) any sums received by way of allowance for domiciliary care of handicapped children under section 61 of the Health Act, 1970, and

(iii) any sums arising from the investment or profitable use of property (not being property personally used or enjoyed by such person);

(b) the value of any property belonging to such person (not being property personally used or enjoyed by him) which is invested or which, though capable of investment or profitable use, is not so invested or profitably used, the yearly value of the first £400 of the property being taken to be one-twentieth part of the capital value and the yearly value of so much of the capital value of the property as exceeds the sum of £400 being taken to be one-tenth part of the capital value; and the weekly value of the property being calculated as one fifty-second part of the yearly value so calculated;

(c) the value of any advantage accruing to such person from the use or enjoyment of property (other than furniture and personal effects) which is personally used or enjoyed by the person;

(d) the value of any benefit or privilege enjoyed by such person;

(e) all income and the value of all property of which such person has directly or indirectly deprived himself in order to qualify himself for the receipt of supplementary welfare allowance.

(3) The Minister may, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, by regulations, vary the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.

13 Allowances in kind.

13.—(1) Whenever it appears to a health board that by reason of exceptional circumstances the needs of a person can best be met by the provision of goods or services instead of the whole or part of any payment to which he would otherwise be entitled under thisAct, the health board may determine that such goods or services be provided for such person under arrangements made by the board.

(2) In making a determination under this section to meet sudden and urgent need, the health board may dispense with inquiry into means or other circumstances and with compliance with any regulations made under this Act.

(3) In relation to any goods or services provided by a health board pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, references in this Act to the amount of supplementary welfare allowance shall be deemed to be references to the value of the goods or services so provided.

14 Power to make single payment for exceptional need.

14.—A health board may, in any case where it considers it reasonable, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, so to do, determine that supplementary welfare allowance shall be paid to a person by way of a single payment to meet an exceptional need.

15 Grant of supplementary welfare allowance in cases of urgency.

15.—(1) Nothing in sections 3, 4 or 5 of this Act shall prevent the payment of supplementary welfare allowance in an urgent case and in determining whether an allowance is payable by virtue of this section, and the amount or nature of the allowance, the health board shall not be bound by anything contained in sections 8 to 12 of this Act or in any regulations made under this Act which appears to it inappropriate in the circumstances of the case.

(2) Where pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, supplementary welfare allowance is paid to a person who is engaged in remunerative full-time work, a health board may, if it is satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case it would be equitable so to do, determine that the whole or part of the allowance so paid shall be recoverable from the person to whom it is paid.

16 Liability to maintain dependant.

16.—(1) For the purposes of this Act and without prejudice to any obligations imposed by law or otherwise, the following provisions shall have effect—

(a) every man shall be liable to maintain such of his legitimate children as are under the age of sixteen years;

(b) every woman shall be liable to maintain such of her children as are under the age of sixteen years:

(c) every married man shall be liable to maintain his wife and any child of his wife, who was born before her marriage to him and is under the age of sixteen years; and

(d) every married woman shall be liable to maintain her husband.

(2) Every reference in this Act to a person who is liable to maintain another person shall be construed as meaning a person who by virtue of subsection (1) of this section is liable to maintain such other person.

17 Recovery of and contributions to supplementary welfare allowance.

17.—(1) Where a health board grants supplementary welfare allowance to any person (in this section referred to as “the beneficiary”), every person who is liable to maintain the beneficiary shall be liable to contribute to the health board according to his ability to any allowance so granted.

(2) Whenever a person who is liable to contribute to supplementary welfare allowance granted to the beneficiary fails or neglects to make such contribution, the health board concerned may apply to the District Court for an order directing the person liable to contribute to make such contribution to the allowance so granted.

(3) Before making an application to the District Court pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, the health board concerned shall serve notice of the application on the person liable to contribute.