Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005

PART 1 Preliminary

1. Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005.

2. Interpretation. [1993 s2(1); 2005 (SW&P) s23 & Sch 1]

2.—(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—

“Act of 1997” means the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997;

F2[‘Act of 2020’means the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020;]

F3[‘Act of 2022’ means the Sick Leave Act 2022;]

F4[‘age referenced rate of State pension (contributory)’ has the meaning given to it bysection 108;]

“appeals officer” means a person holding office as an appeals officer under section 304;

F5[‘approved course of training’means a course of training provided by or on behalf of—

(a) an education and training board specified in Schedule 2 to theEducation and Training Boards Act 2013, or

(b) a body established by or under an enactment that provides for the dissolution of An ForasÁiseanna Saothair and confers on that body functions that are similar to the functions that, immediately before the day on which the body stands established, were vested in An ForasÁiseanna Saothair;]

“assistance” means assistance under Part 3;

“beneficiary” means a person entitled to any benefit, assistance, F6[child benefit, family income supplement or back to work family dividend,] as the case may be;

“benefit” means, subject to section 248 and Part 9, benefit under Part 2;

“benefit year” means the period beginning on the first Monday in a particular year and ending on the Sunday before the first Monday in the following year;

[1999 s30 & Sch F]

“bureau officer” means an officer of the Minister appointed as a bureau officer under section 8(1)(a)(iii) of the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996;

F7[‘children detention school’means a children detention school within the meaning of theChildren Act 2001;]

F8[‘civil partner’means a civil partner within the meaning of theCivil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

‘civil partnership’means—

(a) a civil partnership registration referred to in section 3(a) of theCivil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, or

(b) a legal relationship referred to in section 3(b) of theCivil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;]

“claimant” means a person who has made a claim for any benefit, assistance, F6[child benefit,F9[working family payment]or back to work family dividend,] as the case may be;

F8[‘cohabitant’means a cohabitant within the meaning of section 172(1) of theCivil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;]

“Collector-General” means the Collector-General appointed under section 851 of the Act of 1997;

“contribution week” means one of the successive periods of 7 consecutive days in a contribution year beginning on the first day of that contribution year, or on any 7th day after that day, the last day of a contribution year (or the last 2 days of a contribution year ending in a leap year) being taken as included in the last contribution week of that contribution year;

“contribution year” means a year of assessment within the meaning of the Income Tax Acts;

F2[‘Covid-19’ means a disease caused by infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 and specified as an infectious disease in accordance with Regulation 6 of, and the Schedule to, the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 (S.I. No. 390 of 1981) or any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in those Regulations;

‘Covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment’ means the payment referred to insection 68L;]

“credited contribution” means, in relation to any insured person, a contribution credited to that person by virtue of section 33;

“day of incapacity for work” has the meaning given to it by section 40(1);

F10[‘day of unemployment’—

(a) in relation toPart 2, has the meaning given to it bysection 62,

(b) in relation toChapter 2ofPart 3, other thansection 148A, has the meaning given to it bysection 141(4)or(7), and

(c) in relation tosection 148A, shall be construed in accordance withparagraph (c)ofF11[section 148A(4)];]

“deciding officer” means a person holding office as a deciding officer under section 299;

F12[‘designated person’means a person designated by the Minister to perform the functions conferred on a designated person by this Act;]

[1993 (No. 2) s11(a)]

“developing country” means any country which the Minister, having regard to the countries so designated by the United Nations, the World Bank or the International Labour Organisation as developing countries and after consultation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, may determine, for the purposes of this Act, to be a developing country;

F13[‘EEA Agreement’means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by all subsequent amendments to that Agreement;]

F14[‘electronic’includes digital, magnetic, optical, electro-magnetic, biometric, photonic and any other form of related technology;]

“employed contributor” has the meaning given to it by section 12(1);

“employer’s contribution” has the meaning given to it by section 6(1)(a);

F15[‘employment agency’has the same meaning as it has in theEmployment Agency Act 1971;]

“employment contribution” has the meaning given to it by section 6(1)(a);

“entry into insurance” means, subject to sections 35(3) and 125(7) and Chapters 15 and 16 of Part 2, in relation to a person, the date on which the person became an insured person;

F13[‘European Economic Area’means the European Economic Area created by the EEA Agreement;]

[2005 (SW&P) s23 & Sch 1]

“Executive” means the Health Service Executive;

F16[‘governing contribution year’means the second last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the day for which the benefit is claimed;]

F17[‘habitually resident’shall be construed in accordance withsection 246;]

“health board” means—

(a) a health board established under the Health Act 1970,

(b) the Eastern Regional Health Authority established under the Health (Eastern Regional Health Authority) Act 1999, or

(c) an Area Health Board established under the Health (Eastern Regional Health Authority) Act 1999;

“incapable of work” means incapable of work by reason of some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement or deemed, in accordance with regulations, to be so incapable;

F18[…]

F19[‘insurable employment’ means employment such that—

(a) a person, over the age of 16 years and under pensionable age, or

(b) a person born on or after 1 January 1958, who has attained pensionable age but has neither attained the age of 70 years nor been awarded a State pension (contributory),

employed in that employment would be an employed contributor;]

“insurable (occupational injuries) employment” has the meaning given to it by section 71;

“insurable self-employment” means self-employment of such a nature that a person engaged in that employment would be a self-employed contributor;

“insured person” means a person insured under Part 2;

[2001 s15(1)(a)]

“island” means any island lying off the coast of the State, that is prescribed;

“local authority” has the meaning given to it by the Local Government Act 2001;

F4[‘long-term carer’s qualifying contribution’ has the meaning given to it bysection 108A;]

F15[‘medical assessor’means—

(a) an officer of the Minister who is a registered medical practitioner,F20[…]

F21[(aa) an officer of the Minister who is a registered nurse, or]

(b) such other person who is a registered medical practitioner—

(i) engaged by the Minister under a contract for services or otherwise, or

(ii) employed by an employment agency under a contract of employment (within the meaning of theProtection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012),

to provide medical services to the Minister;]

“Member State” means a Member State of the European Communities;

F13[‘member state of the European Economic Area’means a state which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;]

“Minister” means the Minister for Social and Family Affairs;

“non-governmental agency” means any organisation which has as one of its functions the promotion of relief and development in developing countries through the sponsoring or aiding of projects involving the employment of volunteer development workers in those countries;

[1993 (No. 2) s11(b)]

“occupational injuries insurance” has the meaning given to it by section 70(2);

[1993 (No. 2) s3(a)]

“optional contribution” means a contribution paid under Chapter 5 of Part 2;

[1993 (No. 2) s3(a)]

“optional contributor” means a person engaged in share fishing paying optional contributions;

[1995 s20(1); 2005 (SW&P) s18]

“orphan” means a qualified child—

(a) both of whose parents are dead, or

(b) one of whose parents is dead or unknown or has abandoned and failed to provide for the child, as the case may be, and whose other parent—

(i) is unknown, or

(ii) has abandoned and failed to provide for the child,

where that child is not residing with a parent, adoptive parent or step-parent;

“outworker” means a person to whom articles or materials are given out to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished or repaired or adapted for sale in the person’s own home or on other premises not under the control or management of the person who gave out the articles or materials for the purposes of the trade or business of the last-mentioned person;

F22[‘payment service provider’has the meaning given to it bysection 289A;]

“pensionable age” means the age of 66 years;

[1993 (No. 2) s3(b)]

“person engaged in share fishing” means a self-employed contributor who is a member of the crew of a fishing vessel and whose principal means of livelihood is derived from a share in the profits or the gross earnings of the working of the vessel;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations;

F23[‘qualified cohabitant’ shall be construed in accordance withsection 123A;]

[2001 s8(1)]

F24[‘qualifying contribution’means the appropriate employment contribution or self-employment contribution which was paid in respect of any insured person or the appropriate optional contribution which was paid in respect of any optional contributor;]

[1999 s26(2)]

“record” means any book, document or any other written or printed material in any form including any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in a legible form;

[2004 (MP) s13(1)(b)]

F25[‘reckonable earnings’means, subject tosection 13(2)(da)—

(a) in the case of an employed contributor, not being a special contributor, emoluments derived from insurable employment or insurable (occupational injuries) employment (other than such emoluments that may be prescribed) to which Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Act of 1997 applies, but without regard to Chapter 1 of Part 44 of that Act, and

(b) in the case of a special contributor—

(i) salaries, wages or other remuneration including non-pecuniary remuneration derived from insurable employment or insurable (occupational injuries) employment to which the Act of 1997 (other than Chapter 4 of Part 42) applies or would apply if the employed contributor in receipt of the remuneration were resident in the State, but without regard to Chapter 1 ofF26[Part 44 of that Act,]

F27[(ii) payments to persons attending approved courses of training, and

(iii) payments to persons attending or engaged in courses or schemes provided or approved by—

(I) Teagasc, or

(II) the National Tourism Development Authority,]

and reckonable earnings shall include—

(A) share-based remuneration realised, acquired or appropriated, as the case may be, on or after 1 January 2011, and

(B) the‘specified amount’within the meaning of section 825C of the Act of 1997;]

[2005 (SW&P) s26 & Sch 4]

F28[‘reckonable emoluments’, in relation to aF29[self-employed contributor or a person to whomChapter 5BofPart 2applies,]means emoluments (other than reckonable earnings and any other emoluments that may be prescribed) to which Chapter 4 of Part 42 of the Act of 1997 applies and reckonable emoluments shall include—

(a) share-based remuneration realised, acquired or appropriated, as the case may be, on or after 1 January 2011, and

(b) the‘specified amount’within the meaning of section 825C of the Act of 1997;]

“reckonable income”, in relation to F30[a self-employed contributor, an optional contributor or, subject toChapter 5BofPart 2, a person to whom that Chapter of that Part applies,] means the aggregate income (excluding reckonable earnings, reckonable emoluments and any other income that may be prescribed) from all sources for the contribution year as estimated in accordance with the Income Tax Acts, but without regard to—

F31[(a)sections 140,195,216C,F32[216F,]231,232and233of the Act of 1997, or]

(b) save in the case of a person to whom paragraph 1 of Part 3 of Schedule 1 applies, Chapter 1 of Part 44 of the Act of 1997, after deducting from the income so much of any deduction allowed by virtue of the provisions of the definition of “capital allowance” in section 2(1) of the Act of 1997;

F33[‘registered nurse’has the same meaning as it has in theNurses and Midwives Act 2011;]

F16[‘registered medical practitioner’has the meaning assigned to it by theMedical Practitioners Act 2007;]

“regulations” means regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“Regulations of 1996” means the Social Welfare (Consolidated Contributions and Insurability) Regulations 1996 (S.I. No. 312 of 1996);

F34[‘retained fire fighter’means a person commonly referred to as a retained fire fighter and employed by a fire authority, within the meaning ofsection 2(1) of theFire Services Act 1981, on a part-time basis and on the basis of payment by the authority to him or her of a retaining fee as well as fees for performing, as required by the authority, any functions of a fire fighter;]

“self-employed contributor” has the meaning given to it by section 20;

“self-employment contribution” has the meaning given to it by section 6;

F35[‘share-based remuneration’means—

F36[(a) any gain realised by the exercise of a right in accordance with section 128 of the Act of 1997, other than any gain realised by the exercise of a qualifying share option (within the meaning of the Act of 1997) which is not chargeable to income tax under section 128F of that Act,]

(b) in the case of convertible securities within the meaning of section 128C of the Act of 1997, the chargeable amount computed in accordance with that section,

(c) in the case of restricted shares within the meaning of section 128D of the Act of 1997, the chargeable amount computed in accordance with that section,

(d) in the case of a profit sharing scheme approved by the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with Part 2 of Schedule 11 to the Act of 1997, the initial market value of the appropriated shares within the meaning ofF37[section 510(2) of that Act,]

(e) in the case of a savings-related share option scheme approved by the Revenue Commissioners in accordance with Schedule 12A to the Act of 1997, any gain realised by the exercise of a right in accordance withF38[section 519A of that Act, and]

F39[(f) in the case of emoluments (within the meaning of section 983 of the Act of 1997) received by an employee or director in the form of shares (including stock) in—

(i) the company in which the employee or director holds his or her office or employment, or

(ii) a company which has control (within the meaning of section 432 of the Act of 1997) of that company,

the amount referred to in section 985A(3) of the Act of 1997,]

where that gain, chargeable amount, value or amount is realised, acquired or appropriated, as the case may be, on or after 1 January 2011, but share-based remuneration shall not include any such gain, chargeable amount, value or amount realised, acquired or appropriated, as the case may be—

(i) during the contribution year commencing on 1 January 2011 in respect of shares (including stock) that are the subject of a written contract or agreement that is in place before 1 January 2011, or

(ii) in respect of shares (including stock) that were acquired before 1 January 2011 by an employee share ownership trust to which section 519 of the Act of 1997 applies;]

“short-time employment” means employment in which, for the time being, a number of days is systematically worked in a working week which is less than the number of days which is normal in a working week in the employment concerned;

F3[’sick leave scheme’ has the meaning given to it by section 9 of the Act of 2022;]

“Social Insurance Fund” means the Fund to which section 9 relates;

[2005 (SW&P) s26 & Sch 4]

“social welfare inspector” means a person appointed by the Minister under section 250 to be a social welfare inspector for the purposes of Parts 2, 3, F40[4,] F41[…] 5, 6, F6[7,7A,] F42[8and9];

F35[‘special contributor’means an employed contributor—

(a) in receipt of reckonable earnings referred to inparagraph (b)of the definition of reckonable earnings, or

F43[(b) to whomparagraph (b)ofsection 13(4A)applies;]]

F3[’statutory sick leave’ has the meaning given to it by section 2 of the Act of 2022;

’statutory sick leave day’ has the meaning given to it by section 2 of the Act of 2022;]

F8[‘surviving civil partner’means one civil partner of a couple who were both parties to the same civil partnership and whose civil partner is deceased and includes one civil partner of a couple who were both parties to the same civil partnership, who would otherwise be a surviving civil partner but for the fact that his or her civil partnership has been dissolved being a dissolution that is recognised as valid in the State;]

F23[‘surviving qualified cohabitant’ means one qualified cohabitant of a couple who were both qualified cohabitants of each other and whose qualified cohabitant is deceased;]

“statutory declaration” means a statutory declaration within the meaning of the Statutory Declarations Act 1938;