Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

"Iris Oifigiúil" of 16th December, 2014.

I, JOAN BURTON, Minister for Social Protection, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 4 (amended by section 96 of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011 (No. 10 of 2011)) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26 of 2005), and by section 292 (amended by section 24 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010 (No. 28 of 2010)) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 , with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Variation of Rate of Living Alone Allowance) Regulations 2014.

Definitions

2. In these Regulations-

"Principal Act" means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 ;

"Act of 2010" means the Social Welfare Act 2010 .

Application of Regulations

3. These Regulations apply in relation to an increase in the weekly rate of benefit, pension, supplement or allowance, where the beneficiary is living alone, which is payable in accordance with-

(a) section 77A(1)(c) of the Principal Act in the case of an increase of disablement pension on account of incapacity,

(b) section 81(2) of the Principal Act in the case of death benefit payable to a widow, widower or a surviving civil partner or section 5(4) of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 in the case of death benefit payable to a parent,

(c) section 112(4), 113(5)(c) or 113A(5)(c) of the Principal Act in the case of State pension (contributory),

(d) section 122(4) of the Principal Act in the case of invalidity pension,

(e) section 127(2) of the Principal Act in the case of widow’s (contributory) pension, widowers (contributory) pension or surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension,

(f) section 157(1)(b) of the Principal Act in the case of State pension (non-contributory),

(g) section 161C(1)(b) of the Principal Act in the case of blind pension,

(h) section 178A(3)(b) of the Principal Act in the case of a relevant payment within the meaning of section 178(1)(a) of the Principal Act, and

(i) section 211(1)(c) of the Principal Act in the case of disability allowance.

Variation of rate of living alone allowance

4. The increase in the weekly rate of benefit, pension, supplement or allowance which is payable where the beneficiary is living alone and to which these Regulations apply, is varied by the substitution of "€9.00" for "€7.70",

and-

(a) column (6) of Part (1) (amended by section 12 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 ) of Schedule 2,

(b) column (5) of Part (4) (amended by section 3 of the Act of 2010) of Schedule 2, and

(c) column (6) of Part (1) (amended by section 3 of the Act of 2010) of Schedule 4,

to the Principal Act shall be construed accordingly.

Commencement

5. The variation, provided for in article 4 of these Regulations, in the increase in the weekly rate of benefit, pension, supplement or allowance which is payable where the beneficiary is living alone shall come into operation-

(a) in so far as it relates to an increase of disablement pension on account of incapacity, death benefit payable in accordance with section 81 of the Principal Act or section 5(4) of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 , State pension (contributory), widow’s (contributory) pension, widowers (contributory) pension, surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension, State pension (non-contributory) and blind pension, on 2 January 2015,

(b) in so far as it relates to disability allowance, on 7 January 2015, and

(c) in so far as it relates to invalidity pension and a payment referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of "relevant payment" in section 178(1) of the Principal Act, on 8 January 2015.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform consents to the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

9 December 2014.

BRENDAN HOWLIN,

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

11 December 2014.

JOAN BURTON,

Minister for Social Protection.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This Note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations provide for an increase of €1.30 in the weekly increase payable to recipients of certain long-term social welfare payments who are living alone (Living Alone Allowance). This will mean that the weekly rate of Living Alone Allowance will increase from €7.70 to €9, with effect from the first week in January 2015.

The Living Alone Allowance is payable to-

• people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of social welfare payments, such as State pensions, widow’s and widower’s pensions etc., and

• people who are under 66 years of age who are in receipt of long-term illness and disability payments, such as disability allowance, invalidity pension, incapacity supplement and blind pension,

who are living alone.