Social welfare and pensions act 2014

• Enactment Date: 17 July 2014
• Act Number: 16

Number 16 of 2014
SOCIAL WELFARE AND PENSIONS ACT 2014
CONTENTS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Section
1. Short title, construction, collective citations and commencement
PART 2
Amendments to Social Welfare Acts
2. Definitions
3. Payments programmes
4. Amendment of definition of share-based remuneration
5. Further amendment of section 2(1) of Principal Act
6. Return of employment contributions in respect of certain seafarers
7. Recovery of redundancy payments
8. Absence from State or imprisonment
9. Family income supplement - meaning of family
10. Entitlement to family income supplement
11. Amendments to Principal Act regarding habitual residence
12. Amendments to Act of 2008 regarding habitual residence
13. Decision of appeals officer to be final and conclusive
14. Amendment of section 333A of Principal Act
15. Making and termination of appointments
16. Recovery of sums due by deduction from certain payments
17. Extension of notice of attachment to other State payments
18. Discrimination on grounds of age in relation to employment schemes and other schemes and programmes
19. Excepted self-employed contributors
20. Specified bodies
21. Repeals
22. Miscellaneous amendments to Principal Act
PART 3
Amendments to Pensions Act 1990
23. Definition
24. Amendment of section 50 of Act of 1990
25. Amendment of section 50B of Act of 1990
26. Amendment of section 50C of Act of 1990
Acts Referred to
Central Bank Act 1971 (No. 24)
Employment Equality Act 1998 (No. 21)
Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (No. 52)
Immigration Act 1999 (No. 22)
Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (c.60)
Pensions Act 1990 (No. 25)
Pensions Acts 1990 to 2013
Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984 (No. 21)
Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (No. 21)
Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010 (No. 28)
Social Welfare Acts
Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 (No. 20)
Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009 (No. 43)
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007 (No. 8)
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2008 (No. 2)
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010 (No. 37)
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 (No. 12)
Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26)
Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 (No. 5)
Statistics Act 1993 (No. 21)
Number 16 of 2014
SOCIAL WELFARE AND PENSIONS ACT 2014
An Act to give further effect to Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 1 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and for those and other purposes to amend the Social Welfare Acts; to amend the Pensions Act 1990 and to provide for related matters. [17 th July, 2014]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
		Short title, construction, collective citations and commencement
1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014.
	(2) The Social Welfare Acts and Part 2 shall be read together as one.
	(3) The Pensions Acts 1990 to 2013 and Part 3 shall be read together as one and may be cited together as the Pensions Acts 1990 to 2014.
	(4) Sections 6 , 9 and 10 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Social Protection 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.
PART 2 Amendments to Social Welfare Acts
		Definitions
2. In this Part—
	“Act of 2007” means the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007 ;
	“Act of 2008” means the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2008 ;
	“Act of 2013” means the Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 ;
	“Principal Act” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 .
		Payments programmes
3. The Principal Act is amended—
	(a) in section 2(1), by inserting the following definition:
	“‘payment service provider’ has the meaning given to it by section 289A;”,
	(b) in section 5, by substituting the following subsection for subsection (4):
	“(4) Fees incurred on foot of an arrangement under section 289A with a payment service provider, subject to the arrangement concerned and the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform as to the manner of payment, shall be paid by the Minister out of the Social Insurance Fund to the payment service provider.”,
	(c) in section 242—
	(i) in subsection (1), by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (c):
	“(c) the payment of specified benefits through a payment service provider.”,
	(ii) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (3):
	“(4) (a) Any person presenting for payment of benefit, on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another person, shall satisfy the Minister, an officer of the Minister or a payment service provider as to his or her identity by furnishing—
	(i) a public services card,
	(ii) a card issued by the Minister under section 264, or
	(iii) such information or document as the Minister, an officer of the Minister or a payment service provider may reasonably require for the purposes of authenticating the identity of that person.
	(b) Where a person fails to comply with paragraph (a), payment of benefit may be withheld until such time as the identity of the person is authenticated.
	(5) The information or documentation furnished for the purposes of authenticating identity under subsection (4)(a) may be recorded or retained by the Minister, an officer of the Minister or a payment service provider.”,
	(d) in section 261, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (2A):
	“(2B) Information held by the Minister for the purposes of this Act or the control of schemes administered by or on behalf of the Minister or the Department of Social Protection may be transferred by the Minister to a payment service provider, and information held by a payment service provider which is required for those purposes or the control of any such scheme administered by a payment service provider may be transferred by the payment service provider to the Minister.”,
	(e) in section 263A, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (6):
	“(7) Where a public services card issued to a person is presented to a payment service provider for the purposes of obtaining payment of benefit, the payment service provider may withhold payment, confiscate the card and surrender it as soon as practicable to the Minister if—
	(a) the payment service provider becomes aware of a fact or circumstance, whether occurring before or after the issue of the public services card, that would have required or permitted the Minister to refuse to issue the public services card under section 263 to the person had the Minister been aware of the fact or the circumstance before the public services card was issued, or
	(b) the payment service provider is notified or becomes aware that the public services card is, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, in the possession or control of a person other than the person to whom it is allocated and issued under section 263.”,
	(f) in section 274(1), by substituting the following definition for the definition of “specified agency”:
	“‘specified agency’ means a payment service provider or a person authorised to carry on banking business under section 9 of the Central Bank Act 1971 .”,
	(g) by inserting the following section after section 289:
	“Arrangements with payment service providers
	289A. The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may enter into an arrangement with a person, in this section referred to as a ‘payment service provider’ for the provision of services by that payment service provider to the Minister in relation to the functions conferred on the Minister by or under this Act concerning the payment of benefit or assistance.”,
	and
	(h) in paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 5, by inserting “payment service provider,” after “a payment service provider (within the meaning of section 122 (1) of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 ) in relation to the purpose specified in that section of that Act,”.
		Amendment of definition of share-based remuneration
4. Section 2(1) of the Principal Act is amended in paragraph (a) of the definition of “share-based remuneration” (amended by section 10 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 ) by deleting “, assignment or release”.
		Further amendment of section 2(1) of Principal Act
	5. The Principal Act is amended in section 2(1) by inserting the following definitions:
	“‘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;
	‘European Economic Area’ means the European Economic Area created by the EEA Agreement;
	‘member state of the European Economic Area’ means a state which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;”.
		Return of employment contributions in respect of certain seafarers
6. The Principal Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 36:
	“Return of employment contributions in respect of certain seafarers
	36. (1) The Minister may, on application made to him or her in that behalf, return to an employer any employment contribution paid in accordance with section 13(2) (d) in respect of the employment of a qualifying seafarer in respect of such period as may be prescribed.
	(2) An application under subsection (1) shall be made—
	(a) in the manner,
	(b) to such persons,
	(c) by a specified day or within a specified period, and
	(d) in such form,
	as may be prescribed.

...