Social welfare and pensions act 2007

• Enactment Date: 30 March 2007
• Act Number: 8

Number 8 of 2007
SOCIAL WELFARE AND PENSIONS ACT 2007
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Section
1. Short title, construction, collective citation and commencement.
2. Definitions.
PART 2
Amendments to Social Welfare Acts
3. Amendment to definition of volunteer development worker.
4. Child benefit — new rates.
5. Illness benefit — improvements.
6. Maternity benefit — improvements.
7. Adoptive benefit — improvements.
8. Jobseeker’s benefit — improvement.
9. Jobseeker’s allowance, pre-retirement allowance, disability allowance and farm assist — amendments to means provisions.
10. Cost of medical care — amendments.
11. Disqualifications from injury benefit or disablement benefit — amendment.
12. Carer’s benefit — entitlement to benefit.
13. State pension (contributory) — amendment.
14. Qualified adult increase — direct payment.
15. Entitlement for invalidity pension recipients — amendment.
16. Invalidity pension — amendment to entitlement to pension.
17. Guardian’s payment (contributory) and guardian’s payment (non-contributory) — amendments.
18. Bereavement grant — improvements.
19. Widowed parent grant — amendment.
20. Jobseeker’s allowance — improvement.
21. Pre-retirement allowance — amendments.
22. One-parent family payment — increase in earnings limit.
23. Relevant payments — conditions for receipt.
24. Payment of carer’s allowance in certain circumstances.
25. Supplementary welfare allowance — amendments.
26. Disability allowance — amendment to disqualification.
27. Child benefit — amendment.
28. Respite care grant — increase in grant and amendments.
29. Payments — amendment.
30. Habitual residence condition — amendment.
31. Disclosure of certain information.
32. Personal public service number — amendments.
33. Budgeting in relation to social welfare payments — amendment.
34. Appointment of deciding officers — amendment.
35. Schedule 3 — amendments.
36. Supplementary welfare allowance — calculation of means amendments.
PART 3
Amendments to Pensions Act 1990
37. Amendments to Pensions Act 1990.
PART 4
Miscellaneous Amendments to other Acts
38. Amendment to Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.
39. Attendance before Public Accounts Committee — amendments to other Acts.
SCHEDULE 1
Amendments to Supplementary Welfare Allowance
SCHEDULE 2
Amendments to Pensions Act 1990
PART 1
Amendments relating to Trust Retirement Annuity Contracts
PART 2
Amendments relating to Fines and Penalties
PART 3
Miscellaneous Amendments
SCHEDULE 3
Attendance before Public Accounts Committee
PART 1
Amendment to Combat Poverty Agency Act 1986
PART 2
Amendment to Family Support Agency Act 2001
Acts Referred to
Adoptive Leave Act 1995 1995, No. 2 Child Care Act 1991 1991, No. 17 Combat Poverty Agency Act 1986 1986, No. 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 1993, No. 8 Family Support Agency Act 2001 2001, No. 54 Health Contributions Act 1979 1979, No. 4 Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 1992, No. 12 Maternity Protection Act 1994 1994, No. 34 Pensions Act 1990 1990, No. 25 Pensions Acts 1990 to 2006 Pensions (Amendment) Act 1996 1996, No. 18 Social Welfare Act 2005 2005, No. 30 Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2005 2005, No. 4 Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 2005, No. 26 Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 2006, No. 5 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 1997, No. 39
Number 8 of 2007
SOCIAL WELFARE AND PENSIONS ACT 2007
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE SOCIAL WELFARE ACTS, THE PENSIONS ACT 1990, THE COMBAT POVERTY AGENCY ACT 1986, THE TAXES CONSOLIDATION ACT 1997 AND THE FAMILY SUPPORT AGENCY ACT 2001.
[30th March, 2007]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
	Short title, construction, collective citation and commencement.	1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007.
	(2) The Social Welfare Acts and sections 1 to 36 shall be read together as one.
	(3) Section 37 and the Pensions Acts 1990 to 2006 may be cited together as the Pensions Acts 1990 to 2007.
	(4) Sections 5 , 8 , 9 , 14 , 18 , 20 to 25 , 27 , 28 and 34 to 37 , 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 appointed for different purposes or different provisions.
	Definitions.	2.— In this Act—
	“ Act of 2006 ” means the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 ;
	“ Principal Act ” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 .
PART 2 Amendments to Social Welfare Acts
	Amendment to definition of volunteer development worker.	3.— Section 2(1) of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for the definition of “volunteer development worker”:
	“ ‘ volunteer development worker ’ means a person who is employed temporarily outside the State in a developing country and has secured that employment—
	(a) by or through the Department of Foreign Affairs or by or through a non-governmental agency in the State, or
	(b) by or through a governmental or non-governmental agency in any Member State other than the State, or
	(c) directly with the government of a developing country,
	and who is employed by any of those agencies or by the government of the developing country or by both under conditions of remuneration similar to local conditions applying in that country and who was resident in the State immediately before taking up that employment;”.
	Child benefit — new rates.	4.— (1) Schedule 4 to the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for Part 4 (inserted by section 16 of the Act of 2006):
	“PART 4
	Amounts of Child Benefit
Amount for each of first 2 children Amount for each child in excess of 2 (1) (2) €160.00 €195.00
	”.
	(2) This section comes into operation on 1 April 2007.
	Illness benefit — improvements.	5.— The Principal Act is amended—
	(a) in section 40(3), by inserting the following after paragraph (e):
	“(ea) notwithstanding paragraph (d), in the case of a person who, on or after 1 May 2007, has been in receipt of illness benefit for not less than 624 days in respect of a period of incapacity for work and who, within the same period of interruption of employment, has subsequent periods of incapacity for work, any 2 such subsequent periods of incapacity for work within that period of interruption of employment not separated by a period of more than 26 weeks shall be treated as one period of incapacity for work,”,
	(b) in section 41—
	(i) by inserting the following after subsection (1)(c)(i):
	“(ia) prescribed weekly earnings, in the case of a person who immediately before the week of incapacity for which illness benefit was claimed—
	(I) was in receipt of carer’s benefit or carer’s allowance, and
	(II) was in receipt of illness benefit immediately before receiving a payment referred to in subparagraph (I),
	or”,
	and
	(ii) in subsection (12), by inserting “made before 1 July in any year” before “where”,
	and
	(c) in section 46—
	(i) by substituting the following for subsection (1)(b):
	“(b) the person fails without good cause to comply with such requirements as may be specified by the regulations, including but not necessarily limited to:
	(i) attending for or submitting to any medical or other examination or treatment;
	(ii) complying with instructions relating to his or her incapacity issued by a registered medical practitioner;
	(iii) refraining from behaviour likely to hinder his or her recovery;
	(iv) being available to meet with an officer of the Minister regarding his or her claim for illness benefit.”,
	and
	(ii) by inserting the following after subsection (1):
	“(1A) A person shall not be disqualified for receipt of illness benefit while engaging in such class or classes of employment or training and subject to such circumstances and conditions as may be prescribed.”.
	Maternity benefit — improvements.	6.— The Principal Act is amended—
	(a) in section 47—
	(i) in subsection (1)(a), by inserting “or it is certified by a registered medical practitioner or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Minister that a woman has been confined,” after “given,”,
	(ii) by substituting the following for subsection (4)(a):
	“(a) Subject to this Act and paragraph (b), where a woman, who has been delivered of a living child, dies at any time before the expiry of the twenty-fourth week following the week of her confinement, the father of the child shall be entitled to benefit under this Chapter as if he were a woman and the provisions of this Chapter (other than sections 48 and 50(b)) apply in all respects in the case of that man.”,
	and
	(iii) by substituting the following for subsection (5)(c):
	“(c) a man who—
	(i) is an employed contributor, for the period of leave to which he is entitled under section 16 of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 or for 6 weeks, whichever is the longer period of time, or
	(ii) is in insurable self-employment, for a period beginning on the day after the day on which the death of the mother occurs—
	(I) where the mother dies before the expiry of the twenty-fourth week following the week of her confinement, to the end of the twenty-fourth week following the week of her confinement, or for 6 weeks, whichever is the longer period of time, or
	(II) where the mother dies after the expiry of the twenty-fourth week but before the expiry of the fortieth week following the week of her...