Social Welfare Act 1998

PART I Preliminary

1 Short title and construction.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare Act, 1998.

(2) The Social Welfare Acts and this Act (other than Parts VI and VII) shall be construed together as one.

2 Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

“the Principal Act” means the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993;

“the Act of 1994” means the Social Welfare Act, 1994;

“the No. 2 Act of 1995” means the Social Welfare (No. 2) Act, 1995;

“the Act of 1996” means the Social Welfare Act, 1996;

“the Act of 1997” means the Social Welfare Act, 1997.

3 Continuance of instruments.

3.—An instrument that is made under a provision of the Principal Act that is amended by this Act and that is in force immediately before the commencement of the amendment shall continue in force as if made under the provision so amended.

PART II Increases

4 Social insurance benefits (new rates).

4.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I to IV (inserted by section 3 of the Act of 1997) of the Second Schedule thereto of the Parts set out in Schedule A to this Act.

(2) This section shall come into operation—

(a) in so far as it relates to unemployment benefit, on the 28th day of May, 1998,

(b) in so far as it relates to disability benefit, health and safety benefit, injury benefit, disablement gratuity and disablement pension, on the 1st day of June, 1998,

(c) in so far as it relates to retirement pension, invalidity pension and a relevant payment by virtue of section 18(1)(a) of the Act of 1996, on the 4th day of June, 1998, and

(d) in so far as it relates to death benefit under section 60, 61, 62 or 63 of the Principal Act, old age (contributory) pension, widow's and widower's (contributory) pension and orphan's (contributory) allowance, on the 5th day of June, 1998.

5 Social assistance payments (new rates).

5.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I and II (inserted by section 4 of the Act of 1997) of the Fourth Schedule thereto of the Parts set out in Schedule B to this Act.

(2) This section shall come into operation—

(a) in so far as it relates to unemployment assistance and disability allowance, on the 27th day of May, 1998,

(b) in so far as it relates to supplementary welfare allowance, on the 1st day of June, 1998,

(c) in so far as it relates to pre-retirement allowance, one-parent family payment (other than where payable in respect of a widow or widower), carer's allowance, prescribed relative allowance and a relevant payment by virtue of section 18(1)(b) or (c) of the Act of 1996, on the 4th day of June, 1998, and

(d) in so far as it relates to old age (non-contributory) pension, blind pension, widow's and widower's (non-contributory) pension, one-parent family payment payable in respect of a widow or widower and orphan's (non-contributory) pension, on the 5th day of June, 1998.

6 Child benefit (new rates, etc.).

6.—(1) The Fourth Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Part III (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 1997) of the following Part:

“PART III

Amount for each of first 2 children	Amount for each child in excess of 2
(1)	(2)
£31.50	£42.00

”.

(2) Section 194 of the Principal Act (as amended by section 5 of the Act of 1996) is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

“(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Part, the monthly benefit payable to a qualified person in respect of a qualified child whose birth was part of—

(a) a multiple birth of two children, of whom two remain qualified, shall be 150 per cent. of the amount as set out in Part III of the Fourth Schedule, or

(b) a multiple birth of three or more children, of whom—

(i) not less than three remain qualified, shall be 200 per cent. of the amount as set out in Part III of the Fourth Schedule,

(ii) not less than two remain qualified, shall be 150 per cent. of the amount as set out in Part III of the Fourth Schedule, and

(iii) one remains qualified, shall be payable at the amount set out in Part III of the Fourth Schedule.”,

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

“(4) The amount of the grant payable in accordance with subsection (3) shall be £500.”,

and

(c) the substitution for subsections (6A) (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 1996) and (7) of the following subsections:

“(7) Subject to this Act, a person who is qualified for child benefit shall be paid a grant of £500 in respect of a multiple birth of two or more qualified children, on the 4th and 12th anniversary of the birth of the last born of such multiple birth.

(8) Payment of a grant under subsection (3) or subsection (7) shall be in addition to any child benefit payable by way of a monthly benefit under this Part in respect of the children concerned.”.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of September, 1998.

7 Family income supplement (new weekly rates, etc.).

7.—(1) Section 197 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for the definition of “weekly family income” (inserted by section 6 of the Act of 1997) of the following definition:

“‘weekly family income’ means, subject to regulations under section 202, the amount of income received in a week by a family, less—

(i) any allowable contribution referred to in Regulations 59 and 60 (inserted by the Income Tax (Employments) Regulations, 1972 (S.I. No. 260 of 1972)) of the Income Tax (Employments) Regulations, 1960 (S.I. No. 28 of 1960),

(ii) any income tax payable under the provisions of the Income Tax Acts as defined in section 1 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, applicable to Schedule E,

(iii) any contributions payable under section 10(1)(b) or regulations made under section 11,

(iv) any contributions payable under section 5 of the Health Contributions Act, 1979,

(v) any contributions payable under section 16 of the Youth Employment Agency Act, 1981, or

(vi) any income of a person who in respect of that family is a child.”.

(2) Subsection (1) shall come into operation on the 1st day of October, 1998.

(3) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for section 198 (inserted by section 6 of the Act of 1997) of the following section:

“Entitlement to supplement.

198.—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, £212,

(b) in the case of a family which includes 2 children, £232,

(c) in the case of a family which includes 3 children, £252,

(d) in the case of a family which includes 4 children, £272,

(e) in the case of a family which includes 5 children, £297,

(f) in the case of a family which includes 6 children, £317,

(g) in the case of a family which includes 7 children, £334, or

(h) in the case of a family which includes 8 or more children, £351.”.

(4) Subsection (3) shall come into operation on the 4th day of June, 1998.

8 Employment contributions (increases in earnings ceilings, etc.).

8.—(1) Section 10 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution in subsection (1)(b) of “£100” for “£80” (inserted by section 8(1)(a) of the Act of 1996),

(b) the substitution in subsection (1)(c) of “£24,200” for “£23,200” (inserted by section 8(1)(b) of the Act of 1997),

(c) the substitution in subsection (1)(d)(i) and (ii) of “£270” for “£260” (inserted by section 8(1)(c) of the Act of 1997), and

(d) the substitution in subsection (1)(e) of “£29,000” for “£27,900” (inserted by section 8(1)(d) of the Act of 1997).

(2) This section shall come into operation on the 6th day of April, 1998.

9 Self-employment contributions (increase in income ceiling).

9.—(1) Section 18(1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in paragraph (d) of “£24,200” for “£23,200” (inserted by section 9(1) of the Act of 1997).

(2) This section shall come into operation on the 6th day of April, 1998.

PART III Improvements in Social Welfare Schemes

10 Assessment of means — improvements.

10.—(1) Rule 1 of Part I of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution in paragraph (2)(inserted by section 26(1)(a) of the Act of 1997) for subparagraph (p) of the following subparagraph:

“(p) other than in the case of disability allowance and subject to paragraph (6) and (6A), any moneys earned by him or his spouse from insurable employment of a seasonal nature.”,

(b) the insertion after paragraph (6)(inserted by section 11(1)(b) of the No. 2 Act of 1995) of the following paragraph:

“(6A) other than in the case of disability allowance, the value of all moneys derived by his or her spouse from insurable employment of a seasonal nature, ascertained in the prescribed manner, during the period in which his or her spouse is engaged in such employment, and the value so calculated shall be deemed to constitute the weekly means of that person from such employment.”,

and

(c) the substitution in paragraph (2) for subparagraph (r) of the following subparagraph:

“(r) other than in the case of disability allowance, an amount of £2,000 together with one-half of any amount in excess of £2,000 received under the following schemes:

(i) the Rural Environment Protection Scheme administered by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, and

(ii) the Special Areas of Conservation Scheme administered by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands,”.

(2) Rule 1(4) (inserted by section 26(1)(c) of the Act of 1997) of Part II of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the insertion after subparagraph (b) of the following sub-paragraph:

“(bb) in the case of carer's allowance, an amount not exceeding the maximum amount set out at column (2), reference 3 of Part I of the Second Schedule, of a payment corresponding to invalidity pension under Chapter 15 of Part II, from another Member State or under the legislation of any other State with which the Minister has made a reciprocal arrangement under the provisions of section 238,”,

(b) the substitution for subparagraph (q) of the following sub-paragraph:

“(q) in the case of old age (non-contributory) pension, an amount of £2,000 together with one-half of any amount in excess of £2,000 received under the following schemes:

(i) the Rural Environment Protection Scheme administered by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, and

(ii) the Special Areas of Conservation Scheme administered by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands,”,

and

(c) the substitution for subparagraph (t) of the following sub-paragraph:

“(t) for the purposes of old age (non-contributory) pension and widow's and widower's (non-contributory) pension, any moneys received in respect of rent from a person who resides with the claimant or beneficiary and but for the residence of such person the claimant or beneficiary would reside alone,”.

(3) Section 4(4)(a) (as amended by section 26(2) of the Act of 1997) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for “and 1(6)” of “, 1(6) and 1(6A)”.

(4) Section 119 (as amended by section 11(3) of the No. 2 Act of 1995) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in the definition of “weekly means” for “shall, subject to Rule 1(6)” of “shall, subject to Rule 1(6) or Rule 1(6A), as the case may be,”.

11 Payment in respect of loss of purchasing power.

11.—The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 206 of the following section:

“Payment in respect of loss of purchasing power.

206A.—(1) Where a person makes a claim for any benefit in accordance with section 205 and the payment of that claim is delayed for a period exceeding 12 months due solely or mainly to circumstances within the control of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and the person has not contributed to such delay, regulations may provide for a payment to be made in respect of the loss of purchasing power, subject to such conditions and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

(2) In the case of a person to whom subsection (1) applies, the Minister may make regulations to provide for payment of an amount of costs, subject to such minimum and maximum limits as may be prescribed, actually and necessarily incurred by the said person.”.

12 Carer's allowance — payment after death.

12.—Section 210(2) (as amended by section 26 of the Act of 1994) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the insertion after paragraph (d) of the following paragraph:

“(dd) where a person is in receipt of carer's allowance and the relevant pensioner, in respect of whom the carer is providing full-time care and attention, dies, and the carer is the spouse of that pensioner, in any case where the said carer is not entitled to payment under the provisions of paragraph (a), payment of carer's allowance, in respect of the relevant pensioner, shall continue to be made for a period of 6 weeks after the death of the relevant pensioner, and”,

and

(b) the substitution in paragraph (f) for “(a) or (c)” of “(a), (c) or (dd)” in each place where it occurs.

13 Amendments to section 2 of Principal Act — definitions.

13.—Section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution in subsection (1) for the definition of “the Minister” of the following definition:

“‘the Minister’ means the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs;”,

(b) the substitution in subsection (3)(b)(II) for “specified in regulations.” of “specified in regulations, or”, and

(c) the insertion in subsection (3)(b) after clause (II) of the following clause:

“(III) is of or over the age of 18 years and is regarded as attending a course of study within the meaning of section 126 (3)(a).”.

PART IV Administration of Public Service Data

14 Administration of public service data.

14.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for section 223 of the following sections:

“Personal public service number.

223.—(1) In this section and sections 223A, 223B and 223C—

‘primary account number’, in relation to a public service card or a card issued under section 223B, means a number consisting of—

(a) an issuer number, issued under licence from the International Standards Organisation,

(b) a personal public service number, and

(c) a card number allocated, in the case of a public service card, by the Minister or, in any other case, by the person who issued the card;

‘specified body’ means—

(a) a Minister of the Government,

(b) a local authority (for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941),

(c) a health board,

(d) the Revenue Commissioners,

(e) An Foras Áiseanna Saothair,

(f) An Post,

(g) An tArd-Chláraitheoir,

(h) the Legal Aid Board,

(i) the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces in respect of their own members, or

(j) such other person as may be prescribed;

‘spouse’ means—

(a) each of a married couple, or

(b) a man and woman who are not married to each other but are cohabiting as husband and wife;

‘transaction’ means—

(a) an application,

(b) a claim,

(c) a communication,

(d) a payment, or

(e) a supply of a service,

relating to public funds to or from a specified body which relates to a natural person.

(2) The Minister may allocate and issue a number (in this Act referred to as a ‘personal public service number’) to each person who is the subject of any transaction with a specified body.

(3) A person who has any transaction with a specified body shall furnish to the Minister such information, as may be prescribed, which is necessary for the allocation and issue of a personal public service number.

(4) A person shall give to a specified body his or her personal public service number and the personal public service numbers of his or her spouse and children, where relevant, as required by that body for the purposes of the person's transaction.

(5) In this section a reference to a personal public service number shall be construed as including a reference to a number known as a revenue and social insurance number.

(6) A person, other than—

(i) the person to whom the personal public service number refers,

(ii) a specified body,

(iii) a person who has a transaction with a specified body where the number is relevant to the transaction between that person and the specified body, or

(iv) a person who is required to comply with the provisions of sections 221, 222 or regulations made thereunder,

who uses a personal public service number or seeks to have a personal public service number disclosed to him or her shall be guilty of an offence.

Public service card.

223A.—(1) The Minister may issue a card (in this Act referred to as a ‘public service card’) to a person in such a format as the Minister deems fit, with—

(a) the person's name, personal public service number, primary account number and date of issue inscribed, and

(b) the person's date of birth, gender, primary account number, expiry date of card and card service code electronically encoded,

thereon and with such other information either inscribed or electronically encoded on the card as may be prescribed.

(2) A person may, on request in that behalf to the Minister, obtain within 28 days of such request, where practicable, information which is electronically encoded on his or her public service card.

(3) A person shall produce his or her public service card at the request of a specified body for the purposes of a transaction.