PART III

Improvements in Social Welfare Schemes

10. —(1) Rule 1 of Part I of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution in paragraph (2)(inserted by section 26(1)(a) of the Act of 1997) for subparagraph (p) of the following subparagraph:

“(p) other than in the case of disability allowance and subject to paragraph (6) and (6A), any moneys earned by him or his spouse from insurable employment of a seasonal nature.”,

(b) the insertion after paragraph (6)(inserted by section 11(1)(b) of the No. 2 Act of 1995) of the following paragraph:

“(6A) other than in the case of disability allowance, the value of all moneys derived by his or her spouse from insurable employment of a seasonal nature, ascertained in the prescribed manner, during the period in which his or her spouse is engaged in such employment, and the value so calculated shall be deemed to constitute the weekly means of that person from such employment.”,

and

(c) the substitution in paragraph (2) for subparagraph (r) of the following subparagraph:

“(r) other than in the case of disability allowance, an amount of £2,000 together with one-half of any amount in excess of £2,000 received under the following schemes:

(i) the Rural Environment Protection Scheme administered by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, and

(ii) the Special Areas of Conservation Scheme administered by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands,”.

(2) Rule 1(4) (inserted by section 26(1)(c) of the Act of 1997) of Part II of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the insertion after subparagraph (b) of the following sub-paragraph:

“(bb) in the case of carer's allowance, an amount not exceeding the maximum amount set out at column (2), reference 3 of Part I of the Second Schedule, of a payment corresponding to invalidity pension under Chapter 15 of Part II, from another Member State or under the legislation of any other State with which the Minister has made a reciprocal arrangement under the provisions of section 238,”,

(b) the substitution for subparagraph (q) of the following sub-paragraph:

“(q) in the case of old age (non-contributory) pension, an amount of £2,000 together with one-half of any amount in excess of £2,000 received under the following schemes:

(i) the Rural Environment Protection Scheme administered by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, and

(ii) the Special Areas of Conservation Scheme administered by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands,”,

and

(c) the substitution for subparagraph (t) of the following sub-paragraph:

“(t) for the purposes of old age (non-contributory) pension and widow's and widower's (non-contributory) pension, any moneys received in respect of rent from a person who resides with the claimant or beneficiary and but for the residence of such person the claimant or beneficiary would reside alone,”.

(3) Section 4(4)(a) (as amended by section 26(2) of the Act of 1997) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for “and 1(6)” of “, 1(6) and 1(6A)”.

(4) Section 119 (as amended by section 11(3) of the No. 2 Act of 1995) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in the definition of “weekly means” for “shall, subject to Rule 1(6)” of “shall, subject to Rule 1(6) or Rule 1(6A), as the case may be,”.

11. —The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 206 of the following section:

“Payment in respect of loss of purchasing power.

206A.—(1) Where a person makes a claim for any benefit in accordance with section 205 and the payment of that claim is delayed for a period exceeding 12 months due solely or mainly to circumstances within the control of the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and the person has not contributed to such delay, regulations may provide for a payment to be made in respect of the loss of purchasing power, subject to such conditions and in such circumstances as may be prescribed.

(2) In the case of a person to whom subsection (1) applies, the Minister may make regulations to provide for payment of an amount of costs, subject to such minimum and maximum limits as may be prescribed, actually and necessarily incurred by the said person.”.

12. —Section 210(2) (as amended by section 26 of the Act of 1994) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the insertion after paragraph (d) of the following paragraph:

“(dd) where a person is in receipt of carer's allowance and the relevant pensioner, in respect of whom the carer is providing full-time care and attention, dies, and the carer is the spouse of that pensioner, in any case where the said carer is not entitled to payment under the provisions of paragraph (a), payment of carer's allowance, in respect of the relevant pensioner, shall continue to be made for a period of 6 weeks after the death of the relevant pensioner, and”,

and

(b) the substitution in paragraph (f) for “(a) or (c)” of “(a), (c) or (dd)” in each place where it occurs.

13. —Section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution in subsection (1) for the definition of “the Minister” of the following definition:

“‘the Minister’ means the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs;”,

(b) the substitution in subsection (3)(b)(II) for “specified in regulations.” of “specified in regulations, or”, and

(c) the insertion in subsection (3)(b) after clause (II) of the following clause:

“(III) is of or over the age of 18 years and is regarded as attending a course of study within the meaning of section 126 (3)(a).”.