Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003

PART 1 Short Title, Construction, Collective Citation and Commencement

1. Short title, construction, collective citation and commencement.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003.

(2) F1[…]

(3) Section 24 of this Act and the Pensions Acts 1990 to 2002 may be cited together as the Pensions Acts 1990 to 2003.

(4) Sections 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23 and 24 of this Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions and for the amendments effected by the said section 24 to the Pensions Act 1990.

PART 2 Amendments to the Social Welfare Acts

2. Definitions.

2.—In this Act—

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F2[…]

F2[…]

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F2[…]

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

3. Child benefit (new rates).

3.—F3[…]

4. Respite care grant — increase.

4.—F4[…]

5. Qualified child — extension of entitlement.

5.—F5[…]

6. Island allowance— improvements.

6.—F6[…]

7. Payments after death — improvements.

7.—F7[…]

8. Assessment of means — amendments.

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(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the amendments effected by paragraphs (a)(i)(II), (b) and (d) of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a person who is entitled to or is in receipt of any payment to which those paragraphs refer immediately before the coming into operation of this subsection in relation to that payment, where those amendments have the effect of increasing the means assessed in respect of that person under the Third Schedule to the Principal Act.

(b) Where, after the coming into operation of the amendments referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection, a person referred to in that paragraph has not been entitled to or has not been in receipt of any payments to which those amendments refer for a period of more than 52 consecutive weeks after the said coming into operation, then the said paragraph shall cease to apply to that person.

(3) F8[…]

9. Orphan's payments — amendment.

9.—F9[…]

10. Personal public service number — extension of provisions.

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11. Award of child benefit in certain cases.

11.—F11[…]

12. Amendments consequential on alignment of income tax year with calendar year.

12.—Section 10 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 is amended by substituting “6 January 2003 and ending on 4 January 2004 and the benefit year commencing on 5 January 2004 and ending on 2 January 2005,” for “6 January 2003 and ending on 4 January 2004,” in each place where those words occur.

13. Supplementary welfare allowance — amendment to conditions of entitlement.

13.—F12[…]

14. Conditions for grant of supplementary welfare allowance — amendment.

14.—F13[…]

15. Grant of supplementary welfare allowance in cases of urgency — amendment.

15.—F14[…]

16. Amendments to section 2 of Principal Act.

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17. Employment contributions — amendment.

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18. Employment contributions — amendment to payment of contribution and keeping of records.

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19. Employment contribution and insured persons — agency workers.

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PART 3 Miscellaneous Amendments

20. Amendments to Health Contributions Act 1979.

20.—The Health Contributions Act 1979 is amended—

(a) in section 1, by substituting the following for the definition of “emoluments”:

“‘emoluments’ means, subject to regulations, emoluments to which Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 applies, but without regard to section 1017 of that Act, other than payments under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993;”,

(b) in section 6, by inserting the following after subsection (2):

“(3) For the purposes of this section—

‘payment’ includes a notional payment;

‘notional payment’ shall be read in accordance with the specified provision;

‘specified provision’ means any provision in a Bill entitled the Finance Bill 2003 presented by the Minister for Finance on 4 February 2003 in so far as that provision relates to the application of section 985 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to certain perquisites.”,

and

(c) in section 10—

(i) by substituting the following for subsection (1):

“(1) In relation to health contributions referred to in section 6 or 7 of this Act, the Minister may make regulations, subject to this Act, providing for—

(a) the determination of liability for health contributions;

(b) the time and manner of payment of health contributions;

(c) the collection and the recovery of, and the furnishing of information in relation to, health contributions;

(d) the charging of interest due on arrears of health contributions;

(e) the waiving of interest due on arrears of health contributions;

(f) the estimation of amounts due in respect of health contributions, and the review of such estimates;

(g) adjustment in any case of underpayment or overpayment of health contributions;

(h) any matter ancillary or incidental to any of the matters referred to in paragraphs (a) to (g) of this subsection.”,

and

(ii) in subsection (3)(a), by substituting the following for subparagraph (i):

“(i) the provisions of any enactment, regulation or rule of court relating to the inspection of records, the estimation, collection and recovery (including the provisions relating to the offset of taxes and appropriation of payments in Chapter 5 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997) of income tax, or relating to appeals in relation to income tax, or the publication of names of persons under section 1086 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, shall apply in relation to health contributions which the Collector-General is obliged to collect as if the contributions were an amount of income tax.”.

21. Amendments to National Training Fund Act 2000.

21.—The National Training Fund Act 2000 is amended—

(a) in section 4 by inserting the following after subsection (12):

“(13) For the purposes of this section—

‘payment’ includes a notional payment;

‘notional payment’ shall be read in accordance with the specified provision;

‘specified provision’ means any provision in a Bill entitled the Finance Bill 2003 presented by the Minister for Finance on 4 February 2003 in so far as that provision relates to the application of section 985 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to certain perquisites.”,

and

(b) in section 5—

(i) in subsection (1), by substituting “Chapter 4 of Part 42” for “Part 42”, and

(ii) by substituting the following for subsection (6):

“(6) The provisions of any enactment, regulation or rule of court relating to the inspection of records, the estimation, collection and recovery (including the provisions relating to the offset of taxes and appropriation of payments in Chapter 5 of Part 42 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997) of income tax, or relating to appeals in relation to income tax, or the publication of names of persons under section 1086 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, shall apply in relation to the National Training Fund Levy which the Collector-General is obliged to collect as if the said levy were an amount of income tax which the employer was liable to remit.”.

22. Amendment of Ombudsman Act 1980.

22.—The Ombudsman Act 1980 is amended in section 5(1) by renumbering paragraph (gg) (inserted by section 58 of the Pensions (Amendment) Act 2002) as paragraph (ggg).

23. Amendments to Freedom of Information Act 1997.

23.—The Freedom of Information Act 1997 is amended—

(a) in section 2(1), in the definition of “head of a public body”, by inserting the following after paragraph (jj) (inserted by the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002):

“(jjj) in relation to the office of Pensions Ombudsman, the Pensions Ombudsman,”,

and

(b) in section 46(1)(c) (as amended by the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002)—

(i) by deleting “or” at the end of subparagraph (iii), and

(ii) by substituting the following for subparagraph (iv):

“(iv) an examination or investigation carried out by the Ombudsman for Children under the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002, or

(v) an examination or investigation carried out by the Pensions Ombudsman under the Pensions Act 1990,”,

and

(iii) in clause (II), by substituting “, the office of the Ombudsman for Children or the office of the Pensions Ombudsman” for “or the office of the Ombudsman for Children”.

24. Amendments to Pensions Act 1990.

24.—The Pensions Act 1990 is amended to the extent specified in the Schedule to this Act.