Social Welfare Act 2012

Social Welfare Act 2012 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2012 Social Welfare Act 2012 Social Welfare Act 2012 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 43 of 2012 SOCIAL WELFARE ACT 2012 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART 1

Preliminary and General Section

Section 1

Section 2

PART 2

Amendment of Social Welfare Acts

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Section 9

Section 10

Section 11

Section 12

Section 13

Section 14

Section 15

Section 16

Section 17

PART 3

Amendment of Redundancy Payments Act 1967

Section 18

Acts Referred to Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 1992, No. 18 Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 2009, No. 22 Redundancy Payments Act 1967 1967, No. 21 Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2011 Social Welfare Act 1973 1973, No. 10 Social Welfare Act 2010 2010, No. 34 Social Welfare Act 2011 2011, No. 37 Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2008 2008, No. 2 Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010 2010, No. 37 Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 2012, No. 12 Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 2005, No. 26 Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 2006, No. 5 Number 43 of 2012 SOCIAL WELFARE ACT 2012 AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE SOCIAL WELFARE ACTS AND TO AMEND THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1967. [21st December, 2012] 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 Act 2012.

Part 3

, shall be read together as one.

Part 3

shall be read together as one and may be cited together as the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2012.

Definitions.

2.— In this Act— “Act of 2006” means the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 ; “Act of 2010” means the Social Welfare Act 2010 ; “Act of 2011” means the Social Welfare Act 2011 ; “Act of 2012” means the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 ; “Principal Act” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 .

PART 2

Amendment of Social Welfare Acts Calculation of yearly average and alternative yearly average for pension purposes.

3.— (1) Section 108(2) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in the definition of “yearly average” by substituting“attaining pensionable age and where, in the case of a claim made on or after 13 July 1992, the average so calculated is a fraction of a whole number consisting of one-half or more it shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number and where it is a fraction of less than one-half it shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number;” for “attaining pensionable age;”, and (b) in the definition of “alternative yearly average” by substituting “attaining pensionable age and where, in the case of a claim made on or after 13 July 1992, the average so calculated is a fraction of a whole number consisting of one-half or more it shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number and where it is a fraction of less than one-half it shall be rounded down to the nearest whole number.” for “attaining pensionable age.”.

State pension (contributory) — amendments.

4.— (1) Section 109 (amended by section 4 of the Act of 2006) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (8): “(8) Subject to subsections (8A) and (9), regulations may provide for entitling to State pension (contributory) a claimant who would be entitled to that pension but for the fact that he or she has a yearly average of less than 48.”, (b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (8): “(8A) Where a claimant referred to in subsection (8) has— (a) attained pensionable age before 1 January 2013, and (b) a yearly average of less than 20, he or she is required to have qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 260 contribution weeks since his or her entry into insurance.”, and (c) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (14): “(14) Subject to subsection (15), regulations may provide for entitling to State pension (contributory) aperson who would be entitled to that pension but for the fact that the contribution condition in subsection (1)(c) is not satisfied, where that person— (a) has attained pensionable age before 1 January 2013, and (b) having earlier ceased to be an employed contributor became, as a consequence and at the time of the coming into operation of section 12 of the Social Welfare Act 1973 , an employed contributor in respect of whom contributions reckonable for the purposes of the contribution conditions for entitlement to State pension (contributory) were payable.”.

Respite care grant — amendment.

5.— (1) Section 225 (amended by section 9 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2008 ) of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by substituting “€1,375” for “€1,700”.

Employment contributions — amendment.

6.— (1) Section 13(2) of the Principal Act is amended in paragraph (b) by deleting “in excess of €127”.

Schedule 3 — amendment.

7.— (1) Rule 1 of Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (9) (amended by section 10 of the Act of 2011): “(9) in the case of— (a) a fisherman, the gross income derived from any form of self-employment, or (b) a farmer entitled to or in receipt of farm assist, the gross yearly income which the farmer or his or her spouse, civil partner or cohabitant may reasonably be expected to receive from farming or any other form of self-employment, less any expenses necessarily incurred in carrying on any form of self-employment;”.

Child benefit — amendments.

8.— (1) Section 221 of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following subsection for subsection (1) (amended by section 8 of the Act of 2011): “(1) Subject to this Act, a qualified person shall be paid a monthly benefit— (a) of the amount set out in column (2) of Part 4 of Schedule 4 for a qualified child referred to in column (1) of that Part of that Schedule opposite that amount for any entitlement to child benefit that occurs during the period beginning on 1 January 2013 and expiring on 31 December 2013, and (b) of €130 for each qualified child in respect of any entitlement to child benefit that occurs on or after1 January 2014.”.

State pension (transition) — amendments.

9.— (1) Section 115 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (6) (amended by section 4 of the Act of 2006): “(6) Regulations under subsection (5) shall provide that State pension (transition) payable by virtue of those regulations shall, subject to subsection (6A), be payable at a rate less than that specified in Schedule 2, and the rate specified by the regulations may vary by reference to the yearly average so calculated, but any increase of that pension payable under section 117(2) shall be the same as if the claimant had a yearly average of not less than 48.”, and (b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (6): “(6A) In the case of person who, on 31 December 2012, is entitled to or in receipt of a pension by virtue of regulations under subsection (5) which includes an increase under section 117(1), subsection (6) shall not operate so as to reduce the rate of the increase payable under section 117(1) below the rate that may be prescribed.”.

Rates of self-employment contributions.

10.— (1) Section 21(1) (amended by section 14 of the Act of 2010) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in paragraph (a) by substituting “€500” for “€253”, (b) in paragraph (b) by substituting “€310” for “€157”, (c) in paragraph (c) by substituting “€500” for “€253”, (d) in paragraph (ea) (inserted by section 6 of the Act of 2006) by substituting “€500” for “€253”, and (e) in paragraph (f) by substituting “€500” for “€253” in each place in which it occurs.

Voluntary contributions — amendments.

11.— (1) Section 25 (amended by section 11 of the Act of 2010) of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (1)(b)— (i) in subparagraph (i) by substituting “€250” for “€126”, (ii) in subparagraph (ii) by substituting “€500” for “€317”,and (iii) by deleting subparagraph (iii), and (b) by deleting subsections (2) and (3).

Jobseeker’s benefit — duration of payment.

12.— (1) Section 67 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (1) by substituting “(3), (3A), (3C), (4A) or (4C)” for “(3) or (4)”, (b) in subsection (3) by substituting “234” for “312”, (c) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3B): “(3C) Where subsection (3A) does not apply to a person and that person has— (a) in any period of interruption of employment, qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 260 contribution weeks in the period between his or her entry into insurance and any day of unemployment, and (b) on 3 April 2013, been in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit for more than 156 days, subsection (1) shall have effect as if ‘312 days’ were substituted for ‘156 days’ for the remainder of such period of interruption of employment.”, (d) by deleting subsection (4), (e) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (4B): “(4C) Where subsection (4A) does not apply to aperson and that person has— (a) in any period of interruption of employment, qualifying contributions in respect of less than 260 contribution weeks in the period between his or her entry into insurance and any day of unemployment, and (b) on 3 April 2013, been in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit for more than 78 days, subsection (1) shall have effect as if ‘234 days’ were substituted for ‘156 days’ for the remainder of such period of interruption of employment.”, and (f) in subsection (5)(b) by substituting “subsections (1) and (3)” for “subsections (1), (3) and (4)”.

Recovery of overpayments by deductions from social welfare payments.

13.— (1) Section 341 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (7) by substituting “Subject to subsection (7A), any benefit,” for “Any benefit,”, and (b) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (7): “(7A) The weekly amount of any benefit or assistance to be deducted for the purposes of the recovery of any benefit, assistance, supplement or payment in accordance with subsection (7) shall not, without the prior written consent of the person liable to repay the overpayment, exceed 15 per cent of the weekly rate of benefit or assistance to which the person concerned is or becomes entitled. (7B) In subsection (7A) ‘weekly rate’ means the appropriate weekly rate of benefit or assistance payable to a person under Part 2 or Part 3, but does not include any increases under Part 2 or Part 3 of such benefit or assistance as the case may be. (7C) A person who is in receipt of any benefit or assistance, other than supplementary welfare allowance, from which a deduction is being made for the repayment of any benefit, assistance, supplement or payment in accordance with subsection (7), shall not be entitled to claim for supplementary welfare allowance under section 196.”.

One-parent family payment — amendments.

14.— The Principal Act is amended— (a) in section 172(1), by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (b) of the definition of “relevant age” (inserted by section 4 of the Act of 2012): “(b) in any other case— (i) 12 years in respect of any claim for one-parent family payment relating to any day during the period beginning on 3 May 2012 and expiring on 3 July 2013, (ii) 10 years in respect of any claim for one-parent family payment relating to any day during the period beginning on 4 July 2013 and expiring on 2 July 2014, and (iii) 7 years in respect of any claim for one-parent family payment relating to any day occurring on or after 3 July 2014;”, (b) in section 178B (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 2012)— (i) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (2): “(2) A person to whom this section applies shall, subject to subsection (3), continue to be entitled to the payment referred to in subsection (1) as follows: (a) during the period commencing on 27 April 2011 and ending on 3 July 2013, until the youngest child attains the age of 18 years; (b) during the period commencing on 4 July 2013 and ending on 2 July 2014, until the youngest child attains the age of 17 years; (c) during the period commencing on 3 July 2014 and ending on 1 July 2015, until the youngest child attains the age of 16 years.”, and (ii) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (5): “(5) This section shall cease to have effect on2 July 2015.”, (c) in section 178C (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 2012)— (i) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (2): “(2) A person to whom this section applies shall continue to be entitled to the payment referred to in subsection (1) as follows: (a) during the period commencing on 3 May 2012 and ending on 3 July 2013, until the youngest child attains the age of 14 years; (b) during the period commencing on 4 July 2013 and ending on 2 July 2014, until the youngest child attains the age of 12 years; (c) during the period commencing on 3 July 2014 and ending on 1 July 2015, until the youngest child attains the age of 10 years.”, and (ii) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (4): “(4) This section shall cease to have effect on 2 July 2015.”, and (d) in section 178D (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 2012) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (2): “(2) This section shall cease to have effect on 2 July 2015.”.

Budgeting in relation to social welfare payments — amendments.

15.— (1) Section 290 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (1) by inserting “, subject to section 290B,” after “may be withheld”, (b) in subsection (3)(a) by inserting “, other than any functions performed by a local authority under section 23 (amended by section 8 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 ) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 ” after “authority”, and (c) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (3): “(4) On and after the commencement of section 15 of the Social Welfare Act 2012, an amount of benefit under this section shall not be withheld where the purpose of such withholding of benefit is the separate payment, by the Minister, of rent to a local authority pursuant to this section and regulations made under it.

290A.— (1) This section applies to a beneficiary who is a tenant of a housing body and entitled to a benefit prescribed under this section.

Limitations on budgeting under sections 290 and 290A.

290B.— (1) Where a sum of money is to be deducted under section 290A from a benefit to which that section applies that is payable to a beneficiary to which that section applies, the deduction shall not exceed 25 per cent of the weekly rate of that benefit.

Entitlement to jobseeker’s benefit — amendments.

16.— (1) Section 62 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (1)(d) by substituting “7 consecutive days” for “6 consecutive days”, (b) in subsection (5)— (i) in paragraph (c) by substituting— (I) “4 days” for “3 days”, and (II) “7 consecutive days” for “6 consecutive days”, and (ii) by deleting paragraph (d), (c) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (9) (amended by section 4 of the Act of 2006): “(9A) In the case of a person to whom subsection (11) does not apply, the number of days of unemployment in respect of which that person shall be entitled to jobseeker’s benefit in any payment week shall be limited so that the total of— (a) the number of days in that payment week in respect of which jobseeker’s benefit is paid, and (b) the number of days in that payment week which are not days which form part of a period of interruption of employment, shall not exceed 6. (9B) In the case of a person to whom subsection (9A) applies, the amount payable by way of jobseeker’s benefit for any day of unemployment in a payment week shall be determined in accordance with subsections (10) and (10A).”, (d) in subsection (10) (inserted by section 16 of the Act of 2012) by substituting “Subject to subsections (10B) and (11),” for “Subject to subsection (10B),”, (e) in subsection (10C) (inserted by section 16 of the Act of 2012) by substituting “In this Chapter” for “Without prejudice to subsection (5)(d), in subsections (10) and (10A)”, and (f) in subsection (11) (amended by section 4 of the Act of 2006) by substituting “in any payment week” for “in any week”.

Entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance — amendments.

17.— Section 141 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (3) (amended by section 5 of the SocialWelfare and Pensions Act 2010) by substituting— (i) “4 days” for “3 days”, and (ii) “7 consecutive days” for “6 consecutive days”, (b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3B) (inserted by section 5 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010 ): “(3C) For the purposes of section 67(8), where in any week of unemployment a person is entitled to jobseeker’s allowance— (a) in respect of 7 days of unemployment, the number of days of unemployment in respect of which jobseeker’s allowance shall be treated as though it were a day in respect of which jobseeker’s benefit was paid shall be 6, and (b) in respect of less than 7 days of unemployment, the number of days of unemployment in respect of which jobseeker’s allowance shall be treated as though it were a day in respect of which jobseeker’s benefit was paid shall be 6, reduced by the number of days in that payment week which are not days which form part of a continuous period of unemployment.”, and (c) by deleting subsection (5).

PART 3

Amendment of Redundancy Payments Act 1967 Amendment of section 29 of Redundancy Payments Act 1967.

18.— (1)

Section 29

of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 is amended by inserting the following subsection after subsection (5) (inserted by section 15 of the Act of 2011): “(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act, a rebate shall not be made to an employer in respect of a lump sum payment paid to an employee under section 19— (a) where the dismissal by reason of redundancy, referred to in section 19, or (b) in respect of an employee to whom section 12 applies, where— (i) the date of the notice of intention to claim, referred to in section 12(1)(b), or (ii) the date of the termination of the contract of employment of the employee concerned, referred to in section 12(2), occurs on or after 1 January 2013.”.

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