PART II

Increases and Miscellaneous Amendments

3. —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I, II, III, IV and V of the Second Schedule to that Act 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 disability benefit, unemployment benefit, maternity allowance, injury benefit, disablement gratuity and disablement pension, on the 6th day of April, 1981.

(b) in so far as it relates to deserted wife's benefit, invalidity pension and retirement pension, on the 2nd day of April, 1981, and

(c) in so far as it relates to death benefits under sections 50, 51 and 52 of the Principal Act, old age (contributory) pension, widow's (contributory) pension and orphan's (contributory) allowance, on the 3rd day of April, 1981.

4. —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for Parts I, III and IV of the Fourth Schedule to that Act 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 1st day of April, 1981.

(b) 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 3rd day of April, 1981,

(c) 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 2nd day of April, 1981,

(d) in so far as it relates to supplementary welfare allowance, on the 6th day of April, 1981, and

(e) in so far as it relates to children's allowances, on the 1st day of July, 1981.

5. —(1) Section 10 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of—

(a) “3.75 per cent.” for “3.5 per cent.” and “9.55 per cent.” for “8.5 per cent.” in paragraphs (b) (i) and (b) (ii), respectively, and

(b) “£8,500” for “£7,000” in paragraph (c).

(2) Section 11 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of “2 per cent.” for “1.8 per cent.”, “5.2 per cent.” for “4.7 per cent.” and “3.2 per cent.” for “2.9 per cent.” in paragraphs (b) (i), (b) (ii) and (b) (iii), respectively.

(3) Section 65 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of “0.3 per cent.” for “0.45 per cent.” in subsection (2) (a) (ii).

(4) This section shall come into operation on the 6th day of April, 1981.

6. —(1) Section 72 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of all the words from “and which is not earlier” to the end of subsection (1) and the substitution therefor of the following:

“and which is not earlier than the 13th day of incapacity for work in a period of incapacity for work (within the meaning of section 18 (4)) or which is not earlier than the 13th day of unemployment, as the case may be, in the period of interruption of employment: provided that, where a period of incapacity for work is not separated by more than 3 days from a preceding day of unemployment in respect of which pay-related benefit was payable, that benefit shall be payable from the 13th day of incapacity for work in the period of interruption of employment or from the first day of that period of incapacity for work, whichever is the later.”,

and that subsection, as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

(2) Section 72 of the Principal Act is hereby further amended by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

“(2) For the purposes of this section, any day in respect of which a person is entitled to maternity allowance shall be treated as a day of incapacity for work, and a period of incapacity for work and a subsequent period in respect of which maternity allowance is payable which form part of the same period of interruption of employment shall be treated as one period of incapacity for work.”.

(3) Section 74 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

“(2) In calculating for the purposes of section 73 and this section whether, in a period of interruption of employment, a person has had a specified number of days of incapacity for work or a specified number of days of unemployment, account shall be taken of only—

(a) the first 12 days of incapacity for work in that period and any day of incapacity for work in that period in respect of which that person was entitled to pay-related benefit or would have been so entitled but for any condition prescribed for the purpose of section 73,

(b) the first 12 days of unemployment in that period and any day of unemployment in that period in respect of which that person was entitled to pay-related benefit or would have been so entitled but for any condition prescribed for the purpose of section 73.”.

(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to periods of incapacity for work commencing before the 6th day of April, 1981.

TABLE

(1) Subject to this Chapter, a person who had reckonable earnings in the relevant income tax year shall be entitled to pay-related benefit in respect of any day which—

(a) is a day of incapacity for work which forms part of a period of interruption of employment and in respect of which the person is entitled to disability benefit or maternity allowance or in respect of which the person would be entitled to benefit of either of those descriptions but for the fact that injury benefit is payable to the person under Chapter 5 in respect of that day, or

(b) is a day of unemployment which forms part of a period of interruption of employment and in respect of which the person is entitled to unemployment benefit,

and which is not earlier than the 13th day of incapacity for work in a period of incapacity for work (within the meaning of section 18 (4)) or which is not earlier than the 13th day of unemployment, as the case may be, in the period of interruption of employment: provided that, where a period of incapacity for work is not separated by more than 3 days from a preceding day of unemployment in respect of which pay-related benefit was payable, that benefit shall be payable from the 13th day of incapacity for work in the period of interruption of employment or from the first day of that period of incapacity for work, whichever is the later.

7. —(1) Section 73 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of all the words from “exceeds £14” to the end of the section and the substitution therefor of the following:

“exceeds the sum described hereunder but does not exceed such limit as stands prescribed for the time being, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed to restrict the total amount of benefit payable under this Part to the person in respect of any week. The sum referred to above is an amount corresponding to the weekly rate of benefit (any fraction of £1 in that rate greater than 50p being regarded as £1 and any such other fraction being disregarded) set out in column (2) of Part I of the Second Schedule at reference 1 (A) (a) (i) applicable on the first day of the benefit year next following the end of the relevant income tax year.”,

and that section, as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

(2) This section shall apply to periods of interruption of employment commencing on or after the 6th day of April, 1981.

TABLE

73.—The weekly rate of pay-related benefit payable to a person in any period of interruption of employment shall be an amount equal to—

(a) for any part of that period up to the 159th day of incapacity for work, or for any part of that period up to the 159th day of unemployment, 40 per cent.,

(b) for any part of that period from the 160th day of incapacity for work up to the 237th such day, or for any part of that period from the 160th day of unemployment up to the 237th such day, 30 per cent.,

(c) for any part of that period from the 238th day of incapacity for work up to the 315th such day, or for any part of that period from the 238th day of unemployment up to the 315th such day, 25 percent., and

(d) for any part of that period from the 316th day of incapacity for work up to the 393rd such day, or for any part of that period from the 316th day of unemployment up to the 393rd such day, 20 per cent.,

of the part (if any) of his reckonable weekly earnings for the relevant income tax year that exceeds the sum described hereunder but does not exceed such limit as stands prescribed for the time being, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed to restrict the total amount of benefit payable under this Part to the person in respect of any week. The sum referred to above is an amount corresponding to the weekly rate of benefit (any fraction of £1 in that rate greater than 50p being regarded as £1 and any such other fraction being disregarded) set out in column (2) of Part I of the Second Schedule at reference 1 (A) (a) (i) applicable on the first day of the benefit year next following the end of the relevant income tax year.

8. —(1) Section 159 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsections (2) and (3) of the following subsection:

“(2) Subject to section 163 (2), an old age pension shall not be paid to or in respect of any person during any period for which the person is resident outside the State.”.

(2) Sections 159 (1) (b) and 175 (1) (b) of the Principal Act are hereby repealed.