Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010

One-parent family payment.

20.— (1) The Principal Act is amended in section 172(1) (amended by section 13 of the Act of 2008) in the definition of “qualified parent”—

(a) in paragraph (d), by deleting “or” after “person,”,

(b) in paragraph (e), by inserting “or” after “6 months,”, and

(c) by inserting the following paragraphs after paragraph (e) of that definition:

“(f) a surviving civil partner,

(g) a civil partner who is not living with the other civil partner of the civil partnership, or

(h) a person who is not a party to a civil partnership.”.

(2) Section 172(2) of the Principal Act is amended by—

(a) substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) a widow who has remarried or entered into a civil partnership shall not be regarded as the widow of her former husband and a widower who has remarried or entered into a civil partnership shall not be regarded as the widower of his former wife,”,

(b) inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(ba) a surviving civil partner who has entered into a new civil partnership or who marries shall not be regarded as the surviving civil partner of his or her former civil partner, and”,

and

(c) substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) a reference to a qualified parent shall include a reference to a person who would otherwise be a qualified parent but for the fact that—

(i) the person’s marriage has been dissolved, being a dissolution that is recognised as valid in the State, or

(ii) the person’s civil partnership has been dissolved, being a dissolution that is recognised as valid in the State.”.

(3) The Principal Act is amended in section 173 (amended by section 25 of the Act of 2010) by substituting the following for subsection (2):

“(2) A one-parent family payment payable to a qualified parent shall, subject to this Act, continue to be payable unless the qualified parent marries, remarries, enters into a civil partnership or enters into a new civil partnership, and in such a case the one-parent family payment shall cease as and from the date of marriage or remarriage or the date of entry into a civil partnership or new civil partnership, as the case may be.”.

(4) The Principal Act is amended in section 173A (inserted by section 25 of the Act of 2010)—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), by substituting “dies,” for “dies, and”,

(b) in subsection (1)(b), by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) to a surviving cohabitant where both cohabitants are, on the relevant date, cohabiting and one of them dies, and”,

(c) in subsection (1), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(c) to a surviving civil partner where both civil partners of a civil partnership are, on the relevant date, living together and one of them dies,”,

(d) in subsection (1)—

(i) by substituting “and the surviving spouse, surviving cohabitant or surviving civil partner” for “and the surviving spouse or surviving person”, and

(ii) by substituting “with that surviving spouse, surviving cohabitant or surviving civil partner” for “with that surviving spouse or surviving person”,

(e) in subsection (2) by substituting “to a surviving spouse, surviving cohabitant or surviving civil partner” for “to a surviving spouse or surviving person”, and

(f) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) In this section, ‘relevant date’ means the date of death of—

(a) the spouse of the surviving spouse,

(b) the cohabitant of the surviving cohabitant, or

(c) the civil partner of the surviving civil partner.”.

(5) The Principal Act is amended in section 173B (inserted by section 25 of the Act of 2010)—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), by substituting “dies,” for “dies, and”,

(b) by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

“(b) to a surviving cohabitant where both cohabitants are, on the relevant date, cohabiting and one of them dies, and”,

(c) by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(c) to a surviving civil partner where both civil partners are, on the relevant date, living together and one of them dies,”,

(d) in subsection (1)—

(i) by substituting “the surviving spouse, surviving cohabitant or surviving civil partner is” for “the surviving spouse or surviving person is”, and

(ii) by substituting “that surviving spouse, surviving cohabitant or surviving civil partner and” for “that surviving spouse or surviving person and”,

and

(e) in subsection (2), by substituting “surviving spouse, surviving cohabitant or surviving civil partner” for “surviving spouse or surviving person”.

(6) The Principal Act is amended by substituting the following section for section 175:

“Disqualification.

175.— A qualified parent shall not, if and so long as that parent is a cohabitant, be entitled to and shall be disqualified for receiving payment of one-parent family payment.”.

(7) The Principal Act is amended in section 177 by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) a person is to be regarded as being a separated spouse or a civil partner is to be regarded as a civil partner who is not living with the other civil partner of the civil partnership.”.