Social Welfare Act, 1994

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 4/1994

Number 4 of 1994
SOCIAL WELFARE ACT, 1994
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary
Section 1. Short title and construction. 2. Definition.
PART II
Increases
3. Social insurance benefits (new rates). 4. Social assistance payments (new rates). 5. Child benefit (new rates). 6. Family income supplement (new weekly rates).
PART III
Social Insurance Contributions
7. Employment contributions (new rates of contributions and increases in earnings ceilings). 8. Self-employment contributions (increase in earnings ceiling). 9. Voluntary contributions by former self-employed contributors. 10. Exemption from payment of contributions.
PART IV
Survivor's Pension
11. Survivor's pension. 12. Transitional provisions. 13. Repeals, etc. 14. Commencement (Part IV).
PART V
Amendments to Existing Schemes
15. Lone parent's allowance (calculation of means). 16. Carer's allowance (rate of allowance and calculation of means). 17. Maternity benefit. 18. Amendment of Third Schedule to Principal Act (rules as to calculation of means). 19. Unemployment benefit (entitlement to benefit). 20. Occupational injuries benefits (integration of injury benefit and unemployability supplement with disability benefit). 21. Amendment of Chapter 11 of Part II of Principal Act (pay-related benefit). 22. Unemployment assistance (minimum payment for certain claimants). 23. Amendment of section 170 of Principal Act (definition of child dependant). 24. Amendment of section 172 of Principal Act (persons in full-time education). 25. Amendment of section 173 of Principal Act (persons in full-time employment).
PART VI
Miscellaneous
26. Payments after death. 27. Pre-retirement allowance. 28. Social welfare inspectors. 29. Failure to keep records. 30. Unemployment assistance and supplementary welfare allowance (calculation of rates of payments). 31. Occupational injuries insurance. 32. Amendments consequential on section 3. 33. Provision of consultancy, training and contract services, etc.
PART VII
Amendment of Health Contributions Act, 1979 and Youth Employment Agency Act, 1981
34. Amendment of Health Contributions Act, 1979. 35. Amendment of Youth Employment Agency Act, 1981.
SCHEDULE A
SCHEDULE B
SCHEDULE C
SCHEDULE D
SCHEDULE E
SCHEDULE F
Number 4 of 1994
SOCIAL WELFARE ACT, 1994
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE SOCIAL WELFARE ACTS, THE HEALTH CONTRIBUTIONS ACT, 1979 AND THE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AGENCY ACT, 1981 . [31st March, 1994]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART I Preliminary
	Short title and construction.	1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare Act, 1994.
	(2) The Social Welfare Acts and this Act, other than Part VII , shall be construed together as one.
	Definition.	2.—In this Act “the Principal Act” means the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993 .
PART II Increases
	Social insurance benefits (new rates).	3.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I to IV 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 21st day of July, 1994,
	(b) in so far as it relates to disability benefit, injury benefit, disablement gratuity and disablement pension, on the 25th day of July, 1994,
	(c) in so far as it relates to retirement pension, invalidity pension and deserted wife's benefit, on the 28th day of July, 1994, and
	(d) in so far as it relates to death benefit under section 60, 61 or 62 of the Principal Act, old age (contributory) pension, survivor's benefit, widow's (contributory) pension and orphan's (contributory) allowance, on the 29th day of July, 1994.
	Social assistance payments (new rates).	4.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I and II 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, on the 20th day of July, 1994,
	(b) in so far as it relates to supplementary welfare allowance, on the 25th day of July, 1994,
	(c) in so far as it relates to pre-retirement allowance, deserted wife's allowance, prisoner's wife's allowance, lone parent's allowance (other than lone parent's allowance payable in respect of a widow or widower), carer's allowance and prescribed relative allowance, on the 28th day of July, 1994, and
	(d) in so far as it relates to old age (non-contributory) pension, blind pension, widow's (non-contributory) pension, lone parent's allowance payable in respect of a widow or widower and orphan's (non-contributory) pension, on the 29th day of July, 1994.
	Child benefit (new rates).	5.—(1) Section 194 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection:
	“(1) Subject to this Act, a person who is qualified for child benefit shall, so long as he remains so qualified, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas a monthly benefit of the amount set out in column (1) of Part III of the Fourth Schedule in respect of each of the first 2 qualified children and, in addition, the amount set out in column (2) of that Part in respect of each qualified child (if any) in excess of 2.”.
	(2) The Fourth Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Part III of the following Part:
	“PART III
	AMOUNTS OF CHILD BENEFIT
Amount for each of first 2 children Amount for each child in excess of 2 (1) (2) £20.00 £25.00
	”.
	(3) This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of September, 1994.
	Family income supplement (new weekly rates).	6.—(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for section 198 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, £185,
	(b) in the case of a family which includes 2 children, £205,
	(c) in the case of a family which includes 3 children, £225,
	(d) in the case of a family which includes 4 children, £245,
	(e) in the case of a family which includes 5 children, £270,
	(f) in the case of a family which includes 6 children, £290,
	(g) in the case of a family which includes 7 children, £307, or
	(h) in the case of a family which includes 8 or more children, £324.”.
	(2) This section shall come into operation on the 28th day of July, 1994.
PART III Social Insurance Contributions
	Employment contributions (new rates of contributions and increases in earnings ceilings).	7.—(1) Section 10 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection:
	“(1) (a) Employment contributions shall be paid by employed contributors and their employers in accordance with this section.
	(b) Subject to paragraph (c) and to regulations under section 11, where in any contribution year a payment is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that employed contributor, there shall be payable a contribution by the employed contributor at the rate of 5.5 per cent. of the amount of the reckonable earnings to which such payment relates.
	(c) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor's reckonable earnings have amounted to the sum of £20,900 and the contributions payable under paragraph (b) have been paid in respect of those reckonable earnings, no further such contribution shall be payable in respect of any reckonable earnings of that employed contributor by the employed contributor in that contribution year.
	(d) Subject to paragraphs (e) and (f) and to regulations under section 11, where in any contribution week a payment is made to or for the benefit of an employed contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that employed contributor, there shall be payable a contribution by the employed contributor's employer—
	(i) at the rate of 9 per cent. of the amount of the reckonable earnings in that week to which such payment relates where those reckonable earnings do not exceed £173, (or the equivalent thereof in the case of an employed contributor remunerated otherwise than on a weekly basis), and
	(ii) at the rate of 12.2 per cent. of the amount of the reckonable earnings in that week to which such payment relates where those reckonable earnings exceed £173, (or the equivalent thereof in the case of an employed contributor remunerated otherwise than on a weekly basis).
	(e) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor's reckonable earnings have amounted to the sum of £25,800 and the contributions payable under paragraph (d) have been paid in respect of those reckonable earnings, no further such contribution shall be payable in respect of any reckonable earnings of that employed contributor by his employer in that contribution year.
	(f) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor is employed by two or more employers concurrently (as defined in regulations under section 13), the provisions of paragraph (e) shall, in relation to contributions mentioned in paragraph (d), apply to the reckonable earnings from each of the employments separately.”.
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