Social Welfare Act , 1977

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

“the Act of 1933” means the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933;

“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 1965” means the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1965;

“the Act of 1966” means the Social Welfare (Occupational Injuries) Act, 1966;

“the Act of 1973” means the Social Welfare Act, 1973;

“the Act of 1974” means the Social Welfare (No. 2) Act, 1974;

“the Act of 1975” means the Social Welfare Act, 1975;

“the Act of 1976” means the Social Welfare Act, 1976;

“the Regulations of 1976” means the Social Welfare (Variation of Rates of Payment) Regulations, 1976 (S.I. No. 259 of 1976).

2 Old age pensions (new rates, including special increase for pensioners living alone).

2.—(1) Section 77 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (2) (inserted by the Act of 1976 as varied by the Regulations of 1976) of the following subsection:

“(2) (a) A pension shall, in lieu of any other rate, be—

(i) where the weekly means of the claimant or pensioner do not exceed £16—at the rate set out in Table A to this subsection,

(ii) where the weekly means of the claimant or pensioner exceed £16—at the rate at which, in accordance with that Table, the pension would be payable if the weekly means of the claimant or pensioner exceeded £15 but did not exceed £16, less £1.25 for each amount (if any) of £1 by which those weekly means exceed £16, any fraction of £1 in those weekly means being treated for this purpose as £1; provided that if the rate calculated pursuant to this paragraph at which, but for this proviso, the pension would be payable is less than 50 new pence, the pension shall not be payable,

(iii) where the pensioner has attained the age of 80 years—at the rate of pension payable to him in accordance with subparagraph (i) or (ii) of this paragraph plus 90 new pence,

and the rate of pension so determined shall be increased, where the pensioner is one of a married couple, by the amount set out in Table B to this subsection—

(A) if the pensioner is a man, in respect of his wife if he is living with or wholly or mainly maintaining her and she is not in receipt of pension under the Acts or any benefit or pension under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1977, or

(B) if the pensioner is a woman, in respect of her husband if she is wholly or mainly maintaining him and he is incapable of self-support by reason of physical or mental infirmity and is not in receipt of pension under the Acts or any benefit or pension under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1977.

(b) For the purposes of this subsection, weekly means shall be the yearly means divided by fifty-two.

TABLE A

	Weekly Rate
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 weekly means of the claimant or pensioner—	£	£	£
do not exceed £6	1175	1490	1805	}	Plus, where there are more than two qualified children, £2.40 for each qualified child in excess of two.
exceed £6 but do not exceed £7	1050	1365	1680
exceed £7 but do not exceed £8	925	1240	1555
exceed £8 but do not exceed £9	800	1115	1430
exceed £9 but do not exceed £10	675	990	1305
exceed £10 but do not exceed £11	550	865	1180
exceed £11 but do not exceed £12	425	740	1055
exceed £12 but do not exceed £13	300	615	930
exceed £13 but do not exceed £14	175	490	805
exceed £14 but do not exceed £15	050	365	680
exceed £15 but do not exceed £16	no pension	240	555

TABLE B

Means of claimant or pensioner	Weekly rate of increase
Where the weekly means of the claimant or pensioner—	£
do not exceed £6	585
exceed £6 but do not exceed £7	520
exceed £7 but do not exceed £8	460
exceed £8 but do not exceed £9	395
exceed £9 but do not exceed £10	330
exceed £10 but do not exceed £11	270
exceed £11 but do not exceed £12	205
exceed £12 but do not exceed £13	140
exceed £13 but do not exceed £14	080
exceed £14	Nil

”

(2) Section 77 (5) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1969) of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the substitution of “six pounds, fifty-five new pence” for “six pounds” (inserted by the Regulations of 1976).

(3) The following subsection is hereby inserted after subsection (5) of section 77 of the Act of 1952:

“(6) The rates of pension determined under subsection (2) (a) (i), (2) (a) (ii) or (2) (a) (iii) of this section shall be increased by £1 weekly where the pensioner has attained pensionable age and is living alone.”.

(4) The following is hereby substituted for section 8 (1) of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1924:

“(1) It shall be a statutory condition for the receipt by any person of an old age pension that the person must satisfy the pension authorities that his means as calculated under the Old Age Pensions Acts do not exceed—

(a) in case the person has no child who is a qualified child as defined in subsection (2B) (inserted by the Social Welfare Act, 1974) of section 77 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952—seven hundred and eighty pounds,

(b) in case the person has one or more than one such qualified child, the appropriate highest amount of means at which pension may be paid to that person under section 77 (2) of the Social Welfare Act, 1952.”.

(5) This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1977.

3 Increase of earnings disregarded in the case of blind persons under Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1977.

3.—(1) The Seventh Schedule to the Act of 1952, which contains rules as to calculation of means for the purposes of old age pension, is hereby amended by the substitution in Rule 1 (II) (h) of “£208”, “£156” and “£104”, respectively, for “£65”, “£52” and “£39” (inserted by the Act of 1965) in both places where they occur.

(2) This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1977.

4 Unemployment assistance (new rates).

4.—(1) In the Act of 1933, the Schedule to this section is hereby substituted for the Schedule to that Act inserted by the Act of 1976.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section—

(a) the Schedule to the Act of 1933 inserted by the Act of 1976 shall continue to apply in the case of a person for whom the yearly value of any advantage accruing to him from the use of land, the rateable valuation of which exceeds £10 but does not exceed £15 and which is personally used or enjoyed by him, is calculated in accordance with section 8 of the Act of 1965 and, accordingly, the rates of unemployment assistance to be taken into account in the case of such a person for the purposes of section 10 (3) (c) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1962) of the Act of 1933 shall be those specified in the Schedule so inserted, and

(b) the Schedule to the Act of 1933 inserted by the Act of 1975, as varied by the Social Welfare (Variation of Rates of Payment) Regulations, 1975 (S.I. No. 215 of 1975), shall continue to apply in the case of a person for whom the yearly value of any advantage accruing to him from the use of land, the rateable valuation of which exceeds £15 but does not exceed £20 and which is personally used or enjoyed by him, is calculated in accordance with section 8 of the Act of 1965 and, accordingly, the rates of unemployment assistance to be taken into account in the case of such a person for the purposes of section 10 (3) (c) (inserted by the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1962) of the Act of 1933 shall be those specified in that Schedule as so varied.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the 30th day of March, 1977.

SCHEDULE

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	£1020	£980
Person with an adult dependant	£1760	£1705
Person with an adult dependant and one child dependant	£2075	£2020
Person with an adult dependant and two or more child dependants	£2390	£2335
	plus, where there are more than two child dependants, £240 for each child dependant in excess of two.	plus, where there are more than two child dependants, £240 for each child dependant in excess of two.
Person with one child dependant	£1350	£1310
Person with two or more child dependants	£1665	£1625
	plus, where there are more than two child dependants, £240 for each child dependant in excess of two.	plus, where there are more than two child dependants, £240 for each child dependant in excess of two.

5 Unemployment assistance (modification of Act of 1965).

5.—(1) Notwithstanding section 8. (as amended by the Act of 1976) of the Act of 1965, in any case where the rateable valuation of land which is personally used or enjoyed by a person who is resident in an area specified for the time being in an order under section 8 (3) of the Act of 1965 exceeds £20—

(a) the yearly value of any advantage accruing to such person from the use of such land shall, for the purposes of section 13 (1) (c) of the Act of 1933, be calculated in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 3 (3) of the Unemployment Assistance (Calculation of Means Regulations) Order, 1934 (S.R. & O., No. 34 of 1934), and

(b) a qualification certificate granted in any such case where section 8 of the Act of 1965 applied in the calculation of the yearly value of the advantage accruing to such person from the use of such land shall cease to have effect for unemployment assistance purposes on and from the commencement of this section.

(2) This section shall come into operation on the 30th day of March, 1977.

6 Unemployment assistance (improvement in qualifying conditions for certain applicants).

6.—(1) The number of employment contributions required to be paid, in respect of a window or spinster who has no dependant, as a condition to be fulfilled by her for the purpose of an application for a qualification certificate under the Act of 1933 shall be not less than 26, and section 10 (3) (f) of that Act (as amended by the Act of 1973) shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(2) The number of employment contributions required to be paid, in respect of a widow or spinster who has no dependant and is the holder of a qualification certificate under the Act of 1933, as a condition to be complied with by her for entitlement to receipt of unemployment assistance shall be not less than 26, and section 15 (1) (f) of that Act (as amended by the Act of 1973) shall be construed and have effect accordingly.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the 30th day of March, 1977.

7 Unemployment assistance (extension of meaning of term “adult dependant” and removal of certain disqualifications).

7.—(1) The following is hereby substituted for the definition of “adult dependant” in section 4 (1A) (inserted by the Act of 1952) of the Unemployment Assistance (Amendment) Act, 1935:

“the expression ‘adult dependant’ means—

(a) in the case of a married man—his wife if she is living with him or 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 single person, a widow, a widower or a person in receipt of a deserted wife's allowance or deserted wife's benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1977—any female person (being a person who has attained the age of sixteen years) having the care of his or her child dependant or child dependants and wholly or mainly maintained by him or her.”.

(2) The following is hereby substituted for section 9 of the Unemployment Assistance (Amendment) Act, 1935, as amended by the Act of 1952:

“9.—A person shall be disqualified for receiving unemployment assistance—

(a) while he is resident, whether temporarily or permanently, outside the State; or

(b) while he is undergoing imprisonment or detention in any prison or other place of detention maintained wholly or partly out of public moneys; or

(c) while he is an inmate of any institution maintained wholly or partly out of public moneys or by a local authority; or

(d) while he is in receipt of or entitled to—

(i) pension under section 6 of the Old Age Pensions Act, 1932 (No. 18 of 1932), or

(ii) any disability benefit, unemployment benefit or maternity allowance under the Social Welfare Act, 1952.”.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the 30th day of March, 1977.

8 Widows' (non-contributory) pensions, deserted wife's allowance social assistance allowance, for unmarried mothers and prisoner's wife's allowance (new rates).

8.—(1) Section 20 (inserted by the Act of 1952) of the Act of 1935 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1) (inserted by the Act of 1976, as varied by the Regulations of 1976):

“(1) (a) A widow's (non-contributory) pension shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be—

(i) where the weekly means of the widow do not exceed £16—at the rate set out in Table B to this subsection, and

(ii) where the weekly means of the widow exceed £16—at the rate at which, in accordance with that Table, the pension would be payable to the widow if her weekly means exceeded £15 but did not exceed £16, less £1.25 for each amount (if any) of £1 by which those weekly means exceed £16, any fraction of £1 in those weekly means being treated for this purpose as £1; provided that if the rate calculated pursuant to this paragraph at which, but for this proviso, the pension would be payable is less than 50 new pence, the pension shall not be payable.

(b) For the purposes of this subsection, weekly means shall be the yearly means divided by fifty-two.

TABLE B

Means of Widow	Widow, no qualified child	Widow, one qualified child	Widow, two or more qualified children
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Where the weekly means of the widow—	£	£	£
do not exceed £6	1175	1565	1955	}	Plus, where there are more than two qualified children, £390 in respect of each qualified child in excess of two.
exceed £6 but do not exceed £7	1050	1440	1830
exceed £7 but do not exceed £8	925	1315	1705
exceed £8 but do not exceed £9	800	1190	1580
exceed £9 but do not exceed £10	675	1065	1455
exceed £10 but do not exceed £11	550	940	1330
exceed £11 but do not exceed £12	425	815	1205
exceed £12 but do not exceed £13	300	690	1080
exceed £13 but do not exceed £14	175	565	955
exceed £14 but do not exceed £15	050	440	830
exceed £15 but do not exceed £16	no pension	315	705

”

(2) This section, in so far as it relates to widow's (non-contributory) pension, shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1977, and, in so far as it relates to deserted wife's allowance, social assistance allowance for unmarried mothers and prisoner's wife's allowance, on the 31st day of March, 1977.

9 Orphans'(non-contributory) pensions (new rates).

9.—(1) Section 25 (inserted by the Act of 1973) of the Act of 1935 is hereby amended by the substitution for the Table (inserted by the Act of 1976 as varied by the Regulations of 1976) to subsection (1) of the Table to this section.

(2) This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1977.

TABLE

Means of Orphan	Weekly Rates
Where the weekly means of the orphan—	£
do not exceed £1	765
exceed £1 but do not exceed £2	640
exceed £2 but do not exceed £3	510
exceed £3 but do not exceed £4	385
exceed £4 but do not exceed £5	255
exceed £5 but do not exceed £6	130
exceed £6	no pension

10 Children's allowances (new rates).