Social Welfare Act, 1988
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: —(1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare Act, 1988.
(2) The Social Welfare Acts, 1981 to 1987, and this Act (other than section 27 ) shall be construed as one.
(3) The Social Welfare Acts, 1981 to 1987, and this Act (other than section 27 ) may be cited together as the Social Welfare Acts, 1981 to 1988.
(4) Section 27 of this Act and the Employers' Employment Contribution Scheme Act, 1981 , may be cited together as the Employers' Employment Contribution Scheme Acts, 1981 and 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) In this Act—
“the Act of 1985” means the Social Welfare Act, 1985 ;
“the Act of 1986” means the Social Welfare Act, 1986 ;
“the Act of 1987” means the Social Welfare Act, 1987 ;
“the Income Tax Acts” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Income Tax Act, 1967 ;
“the Principal Act” means the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 .
(2) References in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as references to that enactment as amended or extended by any subsequent enactment.
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paragraphs: —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I to IV (inserted by section 2 of the Act of 1987) 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, 1988,
(b) in so far as it relates to disability benefit, maternity allowance, injury benefit, disablement gratuity and disablement pension, on the 25th day of July, 1988,
(c) in so far as it relates to deserted wife's benefit, invalidity pension and retirement pension, on the 28th day of July, 1988, and
(d) in so far as it relates to death benefit under section 50, 51 or 52 of the Principal Act, old age (contributory) pension, widow's (contributory) pension and orphan's (contributory) allowance, on the 29th day of July, 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I and III (inserted by section 3 of the Act of 1987) 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, 1988,
(b) in so far as it relates to deserted wife's allowance, prisoner's wife's allowance, social assistance allowance and single woman's allowance, on the 28th day of July, 1988,
(c) in so far as it relates to old age pension, blind pension, widow's (non-contributory) pension and orphan's (non-contributory) pension, on the 29th day of July, 1988, and
(d) in so far as it relates to supplementary welfare allowance, on the 25th day of July, 1988.
num: 5
paragraphs: —(1) Section 232B (inserted by section 13 of the Social Welfare Act, 1984 ) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—
(a) the substitution in paragraph (a) for “£104” (inserted by section 4 of the Act of 1987) of “£108”, and
(b) the substitution for paragraph (b) (amended by the said section 4) of the following paragraph:
“(b) in the case of a family which includes more than one child, £108 increased by—
(i) £23 for each additional child up to and including the fifth child, or
(ii) such amounts as may be prescribed for each additional child up to and including such number of children as may be prescribed.”.
(2) Section 232C(2) (inserted by section 13 of the Social Welfare Act, 1984 ) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (b) (amended by section 4 of the Act of 1987) of the following paragraph:
“(b) in the case of a family which includes more than one child, £16 increased by—
(i) £7 for each additional child up to and including the fifth child, or
(ii) such rates as may be prescribed for each additional child up to and including such number of children as may be prescribed.”.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall apply to any claim for family income supplement which is received on or after the 28th day of July, 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) Section 10 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (c) (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 1987) of the following paragraph:
“(c) Where in a particular contribution year an employed contributor's reckonable earnings have amounted to the sum of £16,200 and contributions 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 in that contribution year.”.
(2) This section shall come into operation on the 6th day of April, 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) Section 65 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in paragraphs (a) (ii) and (b) of subsection (2) for “0.43 per cent.” (inserted by section 7 of the Act of 1986) of “0.5 per cent.”.
(2) This section shall come into operation on the 6th day of April, 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) Section 73 (inserted by section 7 of the Act of 1987) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for “£62” of “£66”.
(2) This section shall have effect in relation to any period of interruption of employment commencing on or after the 4th day of April, 1988.
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paragraphs: —Section 15 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph (c) of the following paragraph:
“(cc) the waiving of interest due on arrears of employment contributions.”.
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paragraphs: —Section 2 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended—
(a) by the deletion of the definition of “qualifying contribution”, and
(b) by the insertion of the following definitions:
“‘insurable self-employment’ means self-employment of such a nature that a person engaged therein would be a self-employed contributor;
‘qualifying contribution’ means the appropriate employment contribution or self-employment contribution which was paid or would have been paid but for section 10 (1) (c) or section 17C (d) or (e) in respect of any insured person;
‘reckonable emoluments’, in relation to a self-employed contributor, means emoluments (other than reckonable earnings, non-pecuniary emoluments and such other emoluments as may be prescribed) to which Chapter IV of Part V of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , applies, reduced by so much of the allowable contribution referred to in regulations 59 and 60 of the Income Tax (Employments) Regulations, 1960 (S.I. No. 28 of 1960) (inserted by the Income Tax (Employments) Regulations, 1972 (S.I. No. 260 of 1972)) as is deducted on payment of those emoluments;
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paragraphs: —The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion in Part II after Chapter 1 of the following Chapter:
“Chapter 1A
INSURED PERSONS, SELF-EMPLOYMENT CONTRIBUTIONS
Self-employed contributors.
17A.—(1) Subject to this Act—
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paragraphs: —The First Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after Part II of the following Part:
“PART IIA
EXCEPTED SELF-EMPLOYED CONTRIBUTORS
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paragraphs: A prescribed relative of a self-employed contributor not being a partner, where he participates in the business of the self-employed contributor and performs the same tasks or ancillary tasks.
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paragraphs: A self-employed contributor who by virtue of the provisions of sections 137 and 138 is in receipt of unemployment assistance.
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paragraphs: A person, the aggregate of whose total reckonable income, reckonable emoluments or reckonable earnings (if any) before deducting so much of any deduction—
(a) allowed by virtue of the provisions referred to in section 33 of the Finance Act, 1975 , to be deducted or set off against income in charging it to income tax, or
(b) allowed in accordance with regulations 59 and 60 of the Income Tax (Employments) Regulations, 1960 (S.I. No. 28 of 1960) (inserted by the Income Tax (Employments) Regulations, 1972 (S.I. No. 260 of 1972)) to be deducted on payment of emoluments or earnings,
is below a prescribed amount.
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paragraphs: An employed contributor or a person in receipt of a pension arising from a previous employment in the case of either of whom the reckonable income for the contribution year does not include income to which Chapter II or III of Part IV of the Income Tax Act, 1967 , applies.
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paragraphs: A person employed in any one or more of the employments specified in Regulations under section 7, being employments in respect of which the contribution payable under the said Regulations are reckoned only in relation to the grant of widow's (contributory) pension, deserted wife's benefit or orphan's (contributory) allowance and are not reckoned in relation to the grant of any other benefit.”.
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paragraphs: —The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 78 of the following section:
“78A. For the purposes of this Chapter in the case of a person who becomes a self-employed contributor on 6th April, 1988, and who at any time prior to that date was an employed contributor the date on which the person first entered into insurance or 6th April, 1988, whichever is the more favourable to him shall be regarded as the date of entry into insurance:
Provided that where a date other than that on which the clamiant first entered into insurance is so regarded, that date shall be regarded as the date of entry into insurance for the purposes of paragraphs (a) and (c) of section 79 (1).”.
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paragraphs: —The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 93 of the following section:
“93A. For the purposes of section 93 (1) (b) in the case of a person who becomes a self-employed contributor on 6th April, 1988, and who at any time prior to that date was an employed contributor the date on which the person first entered into insurance or 6th April, 1988, whichever is more favourable shall be regarded as the date of entry into insurance.”.
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paragraphs: —Any question—
(a) as to whether an employment is or was an insurable self-employment,
(b) as to whether a person is or was in insurable self-employment, or
(c) as to what rate of self-employment contribution is or was payable by a self-employed contributor,
shall be decided by a deciding officer in accordance with Part VIII of the Principal Act.
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paragraphs: —(1) The Minister may by regulations apply (with or without modification) to self-employed contributors and self-employment contributions payable under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 17C of the Principal Act any provisions of the Principal Act which apply to employed contributors or employment contributions.
(2) Regulations may provide for adjustments in the calculation of amounts payable in respect of self-employment contributions to facilitate computation and for the elimination from self-employment contributions of amounts of not more than 5p and for the rounding up of amounts of more than 5p but less than 10p to 10p.
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paragraphs: —The following shall be subject to the sanction of the Minister for Finance—
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paragraphs: —(1) If in any respect any difficulty arises in bringing into operation this Part, the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, by order do anything which appears to be necessary or expedient for bringing this Part into operation, and any such order may modify the provisions of this Part so far as may appear necessary or expedient for carrying the order into effect.
(2) Every order made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next twenty-one days on which such House has sat after the order is laid before it annulling such order, such order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.
(3) No order may be made under this section after the expiration of one year after the commencement of this section.
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paragraphs: —Where—
(a) a person is charged with an offence in relation to the receipt of any benefit, pension, assistance or allowance under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act, and
(b) the court proposes to make an order under section 1 (1) of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907 ,
the court shall not make such order until it is satisfied that any amounts due to be repaid in respect of such benefit, pension, assistance or allowance have been repaid.
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paragraphs: —(1) Proceedings for an offence under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Minister or by an officer authorised in that behalf by special or general directions of the Minister.
(2) A prosecution for a summary offence under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act may be brought at the suit of the Minister.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section or any provision in any enactment specifying the period within which proceedings may be commenced, a prosecution for a summary offence under the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act may be brought at any time within whichever of the following periods later expires—
(a) the period of six months commencing on the date on which evidence sufficient to justify the institution of that prosecution came into the possession of the Minister, or
(b) the period of two years commencing on the date on which the offence was committed.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) of this section, a certificate, sealed with the official seal of the Minister, as to the date on which such evidence as aforesaid came into his possession shall be sufficient evidence thereof until the contrary is shown.
(5) Where in a prosecution for an offence under the Principal Act, or under regulations made under or applying the provisions of the Principal Act, it is shown to the satisfaction of the court—
(a) that an application has been made by a person (in this section referred to as the defendant) for any benefit, assistance, allowance or supplement under Parts II, III, IV or IVA of the Principal Act, and
(b) that as a result of that application any such benefit, assistance, allowance or supplement has been paid to any person (whether or not such benefit, assistance, allowance or supplement was that applied for and whether or not it was paid to the defendant),
the defendant shall be presumed to have given any information contained in the application (or to have caused it to be given on his behalf) and, where such information is false, with full knowledge of such falsity and with intent that it should deceive; but this presumption may be rebutted.
(6) For the purpose of the institution of proceedings under the Principal Act, a certificate, purporting to be given by an officer of the Minister authorised in that behalf by the Minister and to be signed by that officer, certifying the following facts, namely, that a person is an officer of the Minister and that he has been authorised under a special or general direction of the Minister to institute such proceedings, or that the Minister has consented to the institution of such proceedings, shall be sufficient evidence in any legal proceedings of the matters certified in the certificate, until the contrary is shown.
(7) In any proceedings for an offence under Part II, or Chapter 2 of Part III, of the Principal Act or under regulations made under or applying the said provisions, the wife or husband of the person charged with the offence shall, notwithstanding any other enactment, be competent to give evidence, whether for or against that person, but the wife or husband shall not be compellable either to give evidence or, in giving evidence, to disclose any communication made to her or him, as the case may be, during the marriage by that person.
(8) The following provisions are hereby repealed:
(a) in the Principal Act—
(i) section 116,
(ii) section 145,
(iii) section 168,
(iv) subsections (4) and (5) of section 188, and
(v) subsections (4) and (5) of section 231;
(b) in the Act of 1986, section 20.
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paragraphs: —A person convicted on indictment of an offence for which a fine or a term of imprisonment is provided in any section of the Principal Act specified in the Table to this section shall be liable—
(a) in lieu of the fine provided for such conviction in any such section, to a fine not exceeding £10,000, or
(b) in lieu of the term of imprisonment provided for such conviction in any such section, to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years,
or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
TABLE
Section 114 (4) (amended by section 15 of the Act of 1986);
Section 143A (5) (inserted by section 13 of the Act of 1985);
Sections 115 (1), 115 (2), 115 (3), 144 (1), 144 (2), 169 (1), 174 (2), 188 (1), 231 (1) and 294 (amended by section 12 of the Act of 1985).
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paragraphs: —The Principal Act is hereby amended—
(a) by the substitution in section 185 (3) for “£500” (inserted by section 12 of the Act of 1985) of “£1,000”, and
(b) by the substitution in section 298 (10) for “£100” of “£500”.
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paragraphs: —(1) Section 22 (which relates to duration of payment of disability benefit) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of the following paragraph:
“(b) before that day has been entitled, in respect of any period of interruption of employment (whether including that day or not) during the period beginning on the date six years before the 5th day of April immediately prior to the benefit year in which that day occurs and ending on that day, to disability benefit for 312 days,”.
(2) This section shall apply to any claim for disability benefit which is received on or after the 6th day of April, 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) Section 42 of the Principal Act (which relates to entitlement to injury benefit) is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (5) of the following subsection:
“(5) The amount payable by way of injury benefit for any day of incapacity shall be one-sixth of the appropriate weekly rate subject to the total amount being paid at any time by virtue of this subsection being rounded up to the nearest 10p where it is a multiple of 5p but not also a multiple of 10p and being rounded to the nearest 10p where it is not a multiple of 5p or 10p.”.
(2) Section 150 of the Principal Act (which relates to the payment of unemployment assistance) is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (2) of the following subsection:
“(3) The amount payable by way of unemployment assistance for any day of unemployment shall be one-sixth of the appropriate weekly rate subject to the total amount being paid at any time by virtue of this subsection being rounded up to the nearest 10p where it is a multiple of 5p but not also a multiple of 10p and being rounded to the nearest 10p where it is not a multiple of 5p or 10p.”.
(3) (a) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 25th day of July, 1988, and
(b) subsection (2) of this section shall come into operation on the 20th day of July, 1988.
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paragraphs: —(1) Section 140 of the Principal Act (which relates to the effect of means on rates at which unemployment assistance is payable) is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of the following paragraph:
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paragraphs: —(1) Sections 153 (which relates to payments to the Minister by local authorities) and 154 (which relates to certificates of valuation) of the Principal Act are hereby repealed.
(2) This section shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1989.
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paragraphs: —The Employers' Employment Contribution Scheme Act, 1981 , is hereby amended—
(a) by the substitution for section 4 of the following section:
“4. The moneys standing to the credit of the scheme shall be transferred to the account of the Occupational Injuries Fund to which section 67 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 , relates.”, and
(b) by the substitution for subsection (6) of section 6 of the following subsection:
“(6) All moneys paid in respect of the employer's employment contribution shall be paid by the Revenue Commissioners to the Minister for Social Welfare and shall be transferred by that Minister to the account of the Occupational Injuries Fund referred to in section 4 of this Act.”.
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paragraphs: —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by—
(a) the insertion in subsection (1) of section 134 (which relates to description of assistance) of the following additional paragraph:
“(k) pre-retirement allowance.”,
(b) the insertion in Part III after Chapter 2 of the following Chapter:
“Chapter 2A
PRE-RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE
Entitlement to pre-retirement allowance.
156A.—Subject to this Chapter, an allowance (in this Chapter referred to as ‘pre-retirement allowance’) shall, subject to regulations, be payable in respect of any period of retirement to a person—
(a) who has attained the age specified by regulations but has not attained pensionable age,
(b) who has been in receipt of unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance for not less than 390 days for any continuous period of unemployment in the immediately preceding period as construed in accordance with section 135 (2),
(c) who satisfies the conditions as to means prescribed for the purposes of this Chapter, and
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paragraphs: —Section 38 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—
(a) by the substitution for paragraph (f) of subsection (3) of the following paragraph:
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paragraphs: —The Principal Act is hereby amended—
(a) by the insertion after subsection (11) of section 79 (which relates to the conditions for the receipt of old age (contributory) pensions) of the following subsections:
“(12) Subject to subsection (13), regulations may, subject to the sanction of the Minister for Finance, provide for entitling to old age (contributory) pension a person who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the contribution condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is not satisfied where that person, having earlier ceased to be an employed contributor became an employed contributor as a consequence of the coming into operation of section 12 of the Social Welfare Act, 1973 .
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paragraphs: —(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment, information held by the Minister for the purposes of the Principal Act (including the purpose of collection by the Revenue Commissioners of employment and self-employment contributions) may be transferred by the Minister to the Revenue Commissioners, and information held by the Revenue Commissioners for the purposes of the Principal Act or the Income Tax Acts, relating to employers, the reckonable earnings of employed contributors or reckonable income or reckonable emoluments of self-employed contributors or of any payments made under the Principal Act, may be transferred by the Revenue Commissioners to the Minister.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment, information held by the Minister for the purposes of the Principal Act or the control of schemes administered by or on behalf of the Minister or the Department of Social Welfare may be transferred by the Minister to another Minister of the Government or a specified body, and information held by another Minister of the Government or a specified body which is required for the said purposes or the control of any such scheme administered by another Minister of the Government or a specified body may be transferred by that Minister of the Government or the specified body to the Minister.
(3) In subsection (2) of this section “a specified body” means a local authority (for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 ), a health board, the Garda SÃ­ochÃ¡na or any other body established—
(a) by or under any enactment (other than the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1986), or
(b) under the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1986, in pursuance of powers conferred by or under any other enactment,
and financed wholly or partly by means of moneys provided or loans made or guaranteed, by a Minister of the Government or the issue of shares held by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government and a subsidiary of any such body.