S.I. No. 16/1974:

SOCIAL WELFARE (PAY-RELATED BENEFIT) REGULATIONS, 1974.

SOCIAL WELFARE (PAY-RELATED BENEFIT) REGULATIONS, 1974.

The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 3 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952) and by sections 1, 4, 8, 9, 11 and 15 of the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973 (No. 2 of 1973), hereby makes the following Regulations:--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Regulations, 1974, and shall come into operation on the 8th day of April, 1974.

2. In these Regulations--

"the Act of 1952" means the Social Welfare Act, 1952 ;

"the Act of 1973" means the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973;

"income tax year" means a year of assessment within the meaning of the Income Tax Act, 1967 (No. 6 of 1967);

"pay-related benefit year" means the period commencing on the first Monday in January in any year and terminating at midnight on the day preceding the first Monday in January in the following year.

3. A person's reckonable weekly earnings for any income tax year shall be calculated as one-fiftieth part of the amount of his reckonable earnings for that income tax year determined in accordance with the provisions of article 3 of the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Contributions) Regulations, 1973 ( S.I. No. 354 of 1973 ) and subject to the provisions of article 5 of these Regulations, fractions of a pound in reckonable earnings being disregarded.

4.--(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-article (2) of this article--

( a ) the relevant income tax year in relation to pay-related benefit payable in respect of any day of incapacity for work which forms part of a period of interruption of employment shall be the last complete income tax year before the beginning of the pay-related benefit year in which the first day of incapacity for work in the period of interruption of employment occurred,

( b ) the relevant income tax year in relation to pay-related benefit payable in respect of any day of unemployment which forms part of a period of interruption of employment shall be the last complete income tax year before the beginning of the pay-related benefit year in which the first day of unemployment in the period of interruption of employment occurred.

(2) Where in relation to pay-related benefit payable in respect of any particular day the relevant income tax year determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-article (1) of this article would be an income tax year earlier than that which ended on the 5th day of April, 1973, the income tax year which ended on the 5th day of April, 1973 shall be the relevant income tax year in relation to the pay-related benefit payable in respect of that particular day.

5.--(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-article (2) of this article, for the purpose of calculating reckonable earnings for entitlement to pay-related benefit--

( a ) where the relevant income tax year in relation to a claim for pay-related benefit is the income tax year which precedes the date of the claimant's entry into insurance under the Acts, the claimant shall be credited with reckonable earnings for the relevant income tax year which shall be the equivalent of twice the amount of his reckonable earnings in the twenty-six weeks immediately following his entry into insurance;

( b ) where the relevant income tax year in relation to a claim for pay-related benefit is the income tax year in which the claimant's entry into insurance occurred, the claimant shall be credited with reckonable earnings for each complete week from the beginning of the relevant income tax year up to the date of his entry into insurance, the amount of which shall be the weekly average of his reckonable earnings during the remainder of that income tax year.

(2) Sub-article (1) of this article shall not apply in any case to which article 9 of these regulations applies.

6. The limit of a person's reckonable weekly earnings which shall not be exceeded in calculating the weekly rate of pay-related benefit under section 4 of the Act of 1973 shall be £50.

7.--(1) In this article "weekly rate of flat-rate benefit" means

( a ) the weekly rate of disability benefit or unemployment benefit payable under the Acts, including any increase of either of those weekly rates under sections 26 or 27 of the Act of 1952, or

( b ) the weekly rate of maternity allowance payable under the Acts, or

( c ) the weekly rate of injury benefit under the Social Welfare (Occupational Injuries) Act, 1966 , (No. 16 of 1966) including any increase of injury benefit under sections 10 or 11 of that Act, payable to a person who would otherwise be entitled to disability benefit or maternity allowance under the Acts.

(2) Where the weekly rate of flat-rate benefit payable to a person in respect of any period is equal to or greater than the amount of that person's reckonable weekly earnings for the relevant income tax year, pay-related benefit shall not be payable to that person in respect of that period.

(3) Where the sum of the weekly rate of flat-rate benefit payable to a person in respect of any period and the weekly rate of pay-related benefit payable to that person for that period exceeds that person's reckonable weekly earnings for the relevant income tax year, the weekly rate of pay-related benefit shall be reduced to the amount by which the said reckonable weekly earnings exceed the weekly rate of flat-rate benefit payable in respect of that period, and the amount of pay-related benefit payable for that period shall be calculated on the basis of the rate so reduced.

8. Where the weekly rate of pay-related benefit, or the appropriate amount of such weekly rate in respect of a period less than a week, payable to a person includes an amount which is less than a whole new penny, such amount shall be rounded up to a new penny.

9.--(1) Where as respects a claim arising during the period beginning on the commencement of section 3 of the Act of 1973 and ending on 5 January 1980 a person makes a claim to pay-related benefit in respect of any day and the relevant income tax year in relation to pay-related benefit payable in respect of that day is an income tax year earlier than that beginning on the 6th day of April, 1974, any earnings of that person in the income tax year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1972, or in the income tax year beginning on the 6th day of April, 1973, which would have been reckonable earnings if the provisions of paragraph 1 of Part II of the First Schedule to the Act of 1952 (as inserted by section 6 of the Act of 1965 and amended by the Order of 1971) had not been in operation, shall be treated as reckonable earnings.

(2) In this article--

"the Act of 1965" means the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1965 (No. 20 of 1965) and

"the Order of 1971" means the Social Welfare (Remuneration limit for Insured Persons) Order, 1971 ( S.I. No. 163 of 1971 ).

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this

11th day of February, 1974.

BRENDAN CORISH,

Minister for Social Welfare.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the making of the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance this 11th

day of February, 1974.

RICHIE RYAN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973 provides that pay-related benefit may be paid to insured persons who are entitled to receive flat-rate benefit in respect of periods of unemployment or incapacity for work and who had reckonable earnings in a relevant income tax year. These Regulations prescribe how reckonable weekly earnings and the relevant income tax year are to be determined and also preclude reckonable weekly earnings in excess of £50 a week from being taken into account for pay-related benefit purposes. Provision is made to restrict the total amount a person may receive by way of flat-rate benefit and pay-related benefit.

The Regulations also provide for the crediting of reckonable earnings for pay-related benefit purposes in the case of persons entering insurance under the Social Welfare Acts for the first time.

Special provision is also made for persons brought into insurance by the abolition of the remuneration limit of £1,600 for compulsory insurance of non-manual workers.