Social Welfare Act 2016
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: In this Act—
“Act of 2013” means the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 ;
“Act of 2015” means the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 ;
“Principal Act” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 .
num: 2
paragraphs: Section 2(2)(a)(iii) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of “(other than a payment under section 186A or supplementary welfare allowance)” for “(other than supplementary welfare allowance)”.
num: 3
paragraphs: Section 21(1)(e) of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of “, paternity benefit” after “adoptive benefit”.
num: 4
paragraphs: The Principal Act is amended—
(a) in section 21(1)(e), by the substitution of “, invalidity pension or bereavement grant are satisfied;” for “or bereavement grant are satisfied;”,
(b) in section 118(4), by the substitution of “while engaging in such class or classes of employment, self-employment or training” for “while engaging in such class or classes of employment or training”, and
(c) in section 119(1)(b), by the substitution of “in the last or second last complete contribution year before that date.” for “in the last complete contribution year before that date.”.
num: 5
paragraphs: The Principal Act is amended—
(a) in section 41—
(i) in subsection (5), by the substitution of “conditions contained in subsections (1)(b) and (c) ” for “condition contained in subsection (1) (b) ”, and
(ii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5):
“(5A) Subsection (5) shall not apply where a person has been entitled to illness benefit, and in the course of a period of incapacity for work, would be entitled to payment of such benefit at a higher rate than would be payable were that person a person to whom the said subsection applied.”,
and
(b) in section 44—
(i) in subsection (7), by the substitution of “in section 41(1)(b) or (c) ” for “in section 41(1)(b)(i) or (ii) ”, and
(ii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (7):
“(7A) Subsection (7) shall not apply where a person has been entitled to illness benefit, and in the course of a period of incapacity for work, would be entitled to payment of such benefit at a higher rate than would be payable were that person a person to whom the said subsection applied.”.
num: 6
paragraphs: (1) Section 49(1) (amended by section 5 of the Act of 2013) of the Principal Act is amended in paragraph (b), by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (ii):
“(ii) €235.”.
(2) This section comes into operation on 13 March 2017.
num: 7
paragraphs: (1) Section 60(1) (amended by section 6 of the Act of 2013) of the Principal Act is amended in paragraph (b), by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (ii):
“(ii) €235.”.
(2) This section comes into operation on 13 March 2017.
num: 8
paragraphs: (1) Section 61D (inserted by section 31 of the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 ) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):
“(b) €235.”.
(2) This section comes into operation on 13 March 2017.
num: 9
paragraphs: The Principal Act is amended—
(a) in section 21(1)(e), by the insertion of “, treatment benefit” after “paternity benefit” (inserted by section 3 ), and
(b) in section 138(2) (amended by section 11 of the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009 )—
(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):
“(a) dental treatment;”,
and
(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):
“(b) optical treatment and appliances;”.
num: 10
paragraphs: Section 30A (inserted by section 14 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010 ) of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in the definition of “public office holder”, by the deletion of paragraph (h), and
(b) in the definition of “public body”—
(i) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “State, or” for “State,”, and
(ii) by the deletion of paragraph (b).
num: 11
paragraphs: Section 172(1) (amended by section 6 of the Act of 2015) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution, in the definition of “relevant age”, of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):
“(a) 16 years where—
(i) the person in respect of whom the claim for one-parent family payment is being made is qualified for—
(I) a blind pension under Chapter 5 of Part 3, or
(II) a carer’s allowance under Chapter 8 of Part 3, including a payment under section 186A, or
(ii) a payment under Chapter 8A of Part 3 is being made in respect of a child,
and”.
num: 12
paragraphs: The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 178E:
“178F. (1) The Minister shall, not later than 3 months after the passing of the Act of 2016, cause to be prepared a report on the financial and social effects of the amendments to one-parent family payment made to this Act since 1 January 2012, taking into account the effects on welfare dependency and the poverty rates of those in receipt of one-parent family payment.
(2) The Minister shall, not later than 9 months after the passing of the Act of 2016, cause a copy of the report under subsection (1) to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
(3) In this section, “Act of 2016” means the Social Welfare Act 2016.”.
num: 13
paragraphs: Section 188(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of “any child who is ordinarily resident in the State,” for “any child,”.
num: 14
paragraphs: Part 4 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 220:
“Regulations
220A. Regulations may provide for requiring an employer to give such information to the Minister as he or she may require for the purposes of determining entitlement to child benefit.”.
num: 15
paragraphs: Section 238B(3)(a) (inserted by section 8 of the Act of 2015) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (i):
“(i) any benefit specified in paragraphs (a) to (k) of section 39(1), other than maternity benefit payable in accordance with Chapter 9 of Part 2, health and safety benefit payable in accordance with Chapter 10 of Part 2, adoptive benefit payable in accordance with Chapter 11 of Part 2, paternity benefit payable in accordance with Chapter 11A of Part 2, disablement benefit payable in accordance with section 75 and death benefit by way of a grant in respect of funeral expenses payable in accordance with section 84,”.
num: 16
paragraphs: Section 241(2)(c) of the Principal Act is amended, by the substitution of “adoptive benefit, paternity benefit,” for “adoptive benefit,”.
num: 17
paragraphs: Section 244(1)(a) of the Principal Act is amended, by the substitution of “behalf, subject to such conditions and in such circumstances as are prescribed,” for “behalf,”.
num: 18
paragraphs: Section 246 of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in subsection (6) —
(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):
“(b) a person who has the right under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 548 of 2015 ) to enter and reside in the State or is deemed under those Regulations to be lawfully resident in the State;”,
(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):
“(c) a person in relation to whom a refugee declaration within the meaning of the Act of 2015 is in force, or is deemed under that Act to be in force;”,
(iii) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (c):
“(ca) a person in relation to whom a subsidiary protection declaration within the meaning of the Act of 2015 is in force, or is deemed under that Act to be in force;”,
(iv) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (d):
“(d) a person who has been given, or is deemed under the Act of 2015 to have been given, a permission to enter and reside in the State under section 56 of that Act, where the permission concerned is in force;”,
(v) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (d):
“(da) a person who has been given, or is deemed under the Act of 2015 to have been given, a permission to reside in the State under section 57 of that Act, where the permission concerned is in force;”,
(vi) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (e):
“(e) a person who is a programme refugee within the meaning of section 59 of the Act of 2015 or is deemed to be a programme refugee under subsection (4) of that section;”,
(vii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (f):
“(f) a person who has been given, or is deemed under the Act of 2015 to have been given, a permission to reside in the State under section 54 of that Act, where the permission concerned is in force;”,
(viii) in paragraph (h), by the substitution of “the Immigration Act 2004 ;” for “the Immigration Act 2004 .”, and
(ix) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (h):
“(i) a person who has been given a permission to reside in the State under section 60(6) of the Act of 2015, where the permission concerned is in force.”,
(b) in subsection (7) —
(i) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (a):
“(aa) an applicant within the meaning of section 16 of the Act of 2015, or a person deemed to have made an application under that Act;”,
(ii) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (d):
“(da) a person who has made, or is deemed under the Act of 2015 to have made, an application under section 15 of that Act which has been refused by the Minister for Justice and Equality;”,
and
(iii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (f):
“(f) a person in relation to whom a deportation order has been made, or has been deemed under section 51 of the Act of 2015 to have been made, under section 3(1) of the Immigration Act 1999. ”,
(c) in subsection (8) —
(i) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):
“(a) is given, or deemed under the Act of 2015 to be given, a refugee declaration under that Act,”,
(ii) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):
“(b) is given, or deemed under the Act of 2015 to be given, a permission to enter and reside in the State under section 56 of that Act,”,
(iii) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):
“(ba) is given, or deemed under the Act of 2015 to be given, a permission to reside in the State under section 57 of that Act,”,
(iv) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):
“(c) is given, or deemed under the Act of 2015 to be given, a subsidiary protection declaration under that Act, or”,
(v) by the deletion of paragraph (d), and
(vi) by the substitution of “declaration or permission concerned was given or granted as the case may be and, in the case of a declaration or permission deemed to be given, for any period before the date on which the declaration or permission concerned was originally given.” for “declaration referred to in paragraph (a) was given or the permission referred to in paragraph (b), (c), (d) or (e), was granted.”,
and
(d) in subsection (10), by the insertion of the following definition:
“ ‘Act of 2015’ means the International Protection Act 2015 ;”.
num: 19
paragraphs: Section 250 (amended by section 15 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014 ) of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in subsection (1B), by the substitution of “to the Minister” for “by the Minister”, and
(b) in subsection (7A), by the substitution of “to the Minister” for “by the Minister”.
num: 20
paragraphs: Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph 2:
“2A. (a) Employment, between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2011, under a contract referred to in paragraph 1 by—
(i) a national of the Republic of Bulgaria or Romania, or
(ii) a permitted family member or qualifying family member of a national of the Republic of Bulgaria or Romania,
whether or not such employment was in accordance with an employment permit referred to in section 2(1) of the Employment Permits Act 2003 .
(b) In this paragraph—
‘permitted family member’ has the same meaning as it has in the Regulations of 2015 and includes a person deemed to be a permitted family member under Regulation 31(2) of those Regulations;
‘qualifying family member’ has the same meaning as it has in the Regulations of 2015 and includes a person considered to be a qualifying family member under Regulation 31(1) of those Regulations;
‘Regulations of 2015’ means the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015 ( S.I. No. 548 of 2015 ).”.
num: 21
paragraphs: (1) Schedule 2 (amended by section 3 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2015 ) to the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the Parts set out in Schedule 1 for Parts 1 to 4 of the said Schedule 2.
(2) This section comes into operation—
(a) in so far as it relates to jobseeker’s benefit, on 9 March 2017,
(b) in so far as it relates to illness benefit, health and safety benefit and injury benefit, on 13 March 2017,
(c) in so far as it relates to carer’s benefit and invalidity pension, on 16 March 2017,
(d) in so far as it relates to a payment referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of “relevant payment” in section 178(1) of the Principal Act—
(i) on 9 March 2017 in the case of a beneficiary who, on that date, has attained pensionable age, and
(ii) on 16 March 2017 in the case of a beneficiary who has not, on 9 March 2017, attained pensionable age,
(e) in so far as it relates to death benefit under Chapter 13 (other than section 84) of the Principal Act, widow’s (contributory) pension, widower’s (contributory) pension and surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension—
(i) on 10 March 2017 in the case of a beneficiary who, on that date, has attained pensionable age, and
(ii) on 17 March 2017 in the case of a beneficiary who has not, on 10 March 2017, attained pensionable age,
(f) in so far as it relates to State pension (contributory), on 10 March 2017, and
(g) in so far as it relates to guardian’s payment (contributory), disablement pension and disablement gratuity, on 17 March 2017.
num: 22
paragraphs: Schedule 3 to the Principal Act is amended—
(a) in Rule 1(2)(b)(ix) of Part 2 (amended by section 15(2)(b) of the Act of 2015), by the substitution of the following subclause for subclause (I):
“(I) the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, the Agri-Environment Options Scheme and the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme administered by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine;”,
and
(b) in Rule 1(2)(b)(x) of Part 3 (amended by section 15(2)(c) of the Act of 2015), by the substitution of the following subclause for subclause (I):
“(I) the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, the Agri-Environment Options Scheme and the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme administered by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine;”.
num: 23
paragraphs: (1) Rule 1 of Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (9) (amended by section 7 of the Social Welfare Act 2012 ):
“(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—
(i) any expenses necessarily incurred in carrying on any form of self-employment, and
(ii) where the fisherman or farmer has a qualified child, who normally resides with him or her, an amount of—
(I) €254 per annum in respect of each of the first 2 qualified children, and
(II) €381 per annum in respect of each subsequent qualified child,
calculated at the rate of 70 per cent;”.
(2) This section comes into operation on 8 March 2017.
num: 24
paragraphs: Rule 1(4) (amended by section 3 of the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2014 ) of Part 5 of Schedule 3 to the Principal Act is amended—
(a) by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (d):
“(d) in calculating the weekly earnings for the purposes of subparagraph (a) for any period commencing on or after 1 January 2014 but before 5 January 2017, an amount of €90 together with half the weekly earnings in excess of that amount shall be disregarded;”,
and
(b) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (d):
“(da) in calculating the weekly earnings for the purposes of subparagraph (a) for any period commencing on or after 5 January 2017, an amount of €110 together with half the weekly earnings in excess of that amount shall be disregarded;”.
num: 25
paragraphs: (1) Schedule 4 (amended by section 4 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2015 ) to the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the Parts set out in Schedule 2 for Parts 1 to 3 of the said Schedule 4.
(2) This section comes into operation—
(a) in so far as it relates to jobseeker’s allowance (other than where payable in accordance with section 148A of the Principal Act), pre-retirement allowance and farm assist, on 8 March 2017,
(b) in so far as it relates to supplementary welfare allowance, on 13 March 2017,
(c) in so far as it relates to disability allowance, on 15 March 2017,
(d) in so far as it relates to one-parent family payment (other than where payable in respect of a widow, widower or surviving civil partner), jobseeker’s allowance payable in accordance with section 148A of the Principal Act and a payment referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) of the definition of “relevant payment” in section 178(1) of the Principal Act, on 16 March 2017,
(e) in so far as it relates to carer’s allowance—
(i) on 9 March 2017 in the case of a beneficiary who has, on that date, attained pensionable age, and
(ii) on 16 March 2017 in the case of a beneficiary who has not, on 9 March 2017, attained pensionable age,
(f) in so far as it relates to State pension (non-contributory) on 10 March 2017, and
(g) in so far as it relates to blind pension, guardian’s payment (non-contributory), widow’s (non-contributory) pension, widower’s (non-contributory) pension, surviving civil partner’s (non-contributory) pension and one-parent family payment (payable in respect of a widow, widower or surviving civil partner), on 17 March 2017.
num: 26
paragraphs: (1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare Act 2016.
(2) The Social Welfare Acts and this Act shall be construed together as one Act.
(3) Sections 4 , 9 , 10 and 18 (other than paragraph (a)(i)) 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.