S.I. No. 7/1953 - Social Welfare (Disability, Unemployment and Marriage Benefit) Regulations, 1953.

S.I. No. 7 of 1953.

SOCIAL WELFARE (DISABILITY, UNEMPLOYMENT AND MARRIAGE BENEFIT) REGULATIONS, 1953.

The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 2 (1), 3 , 15 , 16 , 17 (1) and 28 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952) and of all other powers enabling him in this behalf, and with the sanction of the Minister for Finance so far as those powers are derived from the said section 28, hereby makes the following Regulations :—

1 Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Disability, Unemployment and Marriage Benefit) Regulations, 1953.

2 Commencement.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 5th day of January, 1953.

3 Definitions.

3.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

" the Act " means the Social Welfare Act, 1952 ;

" the Minister " means the Minister for Social Welfare ;

" contribution year " and " benefit year " have the same meanings as in the Social Welfare (General Benefit) Regulations, 1953, ( S.I. No. 16 of 1953 .)

(2) References in these Regulations to any enactment or regulations shall include a reference to such enactment or regulations as amended or extended by any subsequent enactment, order or regulations.

4 Partial satisfaction of contribution conditions for disability and unemployment benefit.

4.—(1) Where a person would be entitled to disability benefit or unemployment benefit but for the fact that the relevant contribution conditions are not satisfied as respects the number of employment contributions paid or credited in respect of the relevant contribution year, he shall nevertheless be entitled to benefit in accordance with and subject to sub-articles (2), (3) and (4) hereof if not less than twenty-six employment contributions have been paid or credited in respect of such year.

(2) Where the full weekly rate of benefit or increase of benefit for an adult dependant under Part I of the Third Schedule to the Act is at one of the rates set out at the head of columns (2), (3) and (4) of the First Schedule hereto, then benefit or increase of benefit for an adult dependant shall be payable at the reduced rate specified in the appropriate column of the said First Schedule which corresponds with the number of employment contributions paid or credited in the relevant contribution year as shown in column (1) of the said First Schedule.

(3) Any increase of benefit in respect of a qualified child shall be the same as if the relevant contribution conditions had been fully satisfied.

(4) Employment contributions under paragraph 3 of the Second Schedule to the Act shall be disregarded as respects unemployment benefit in determining for the purposes of this article the number of employment contributions which have been paid in respect of the relevant contribution year.

(5) In this article the expression " the relevant contribution year " means the last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the day for which benefit is claimed.

5 Partial satisfaction of contribution conditions for marriage benefit.

5.—(1) Where a woman would be entitled to marriage benefit but for the fact that the relevant contribution conditions are not satisfied as respects the number of employment contributions paid or credited in respect of the relevant contribution year, she shall nevertheless be entitled to marriage benefit in accordance with the next succeeding sub-article if not less than thirteen employment contributions have been paid or credited in respect of such year.

(2) Where the number of employment contributions paid or credited in the relevant contribution year is a number specified in column (1), column (3) or column (5) of the Second Schedule hereto, then marriage benefit shall be payable of an amount equal to the amount shown opposite to that number in the column (column (2), (4) or (6) as the case may be) next to the right of the column containing that number.

(3) In this article the expression " the relevant contribution year " means the last complete contribution year before the date of the woman's marriage.

6 Persons deemed to be incapable of work.

6.—(1) A person who is not incapable of work shall, if it is so decided under the provisions of the Act, be deemed to be incapable of work by reason of some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement for any day when—

(a) he is under medical care in respect of such a disease or disablement and it is certified by a registered medical practitioner that by reason of such disease or disablement he should abstain from work and he does not work ; or

(b) he is a probable source of infection with a disease specified in regulations under the Health Act, 1947 (No. 28 of 1947), to be an infectious disease and he abstains from work in pursuance of a written order or of written advice of a registered medical practitioner.

(2) A person who at the commencement of any day is or thereafter on that day becomes incapable of work by reason of some specific disease or bodily or mental disablement and does not work on that day shall be deemed to be so incapable throughout that day.

7 Days not to be treated as days of incapacity for work or of unemployment.

7. For the purposes of disability and unemployment benefit—

(a) a day shall not be treated as a day of incapacity for work if an insured person—

(i) fails to prove to the satisfaction of the Minister in respect of that day that he is incapable of work, or

(ii) does any work on that day other than work of the nature specified in rule 5 of the Third Schedule hereto ;

(b) a day shall not be treated as a day of unemployment if an insured person—

(i) fails to prove to the satisfaction of the Minister in respect of that day that he is unemployed and not incapable of work and is available for employment, or

(ii) is on that day following any occupation from which he derives any remuneration or profit unless such occupation could ordinarily have been followed by him in addition to his usual employment and outside the ordinary working hours of that employment and the remuneration or profit therefrom for such day does not exceed five shillings, or, where the remuneration or profit is in respect of a period longer than a day, such remuneration or profit does not on the daily average exceed that amount.

8 Nights workers.

8.—(1) Where a person is employed to work continuously from a time on any day until a time on the next following day, that person shall be regarded, for the purposes of disability benefit and unemployment benefit, as being, by virtue of such employment, employed—

(a) in case the first day is a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and the employment on the first day is longer than that on the second, or in case the first day is a Saturday—only on the first day, which day shall not be treated as a day of unemployment, or

(b) in any other case—only on the second day, which day shall not be treated as a day of unemployment.

(2) Where a person—

(a) is, by virtue of the provisions of sub-article (1) of this article, to be treated as having been employed on one day only of two days, and

(b) throughout that part of the other of those two days during which that person is not employed, is incapable of work or is, or is deemed in accordance with regulations to be, available for employment,

that person shall, for the purposes of disability or unemployment benefit, be deemed to be so incapable of work, or, as the case may be, to be so available for employment, throughout that other of those two days.

(3) Where a person—

(a) is, by virtue of the provisions of sub-article (1) of this article, to be treated as having been employed on the second day only of two days, and

(b) throughout the day immediately preceding the first of those two days is incapable of work,

that person shall, for the purposes of disability benefit, be deemed to be so incapable of work throughout the first of those two days.

9 Reckoning of periods of interruption of employment.

9. For the purpose of reckoning periods of interruption of employment, but for that purpose only, any day in respect of which a woman is entitled to and is in receipt of maternity allowance shall be treated as a day of incapacity for work.

10 Special provision relating to delay or failure in claiming or giving notice.

10. Notwithstanding anything contained in article 7 hereof, a person who, in respect of any period of interruption of employment, would have been entitled to disability or unemployment benefit for any day but for any delay or failure on his part to make or prosecute a claim or give a notice, shall, for the purposes of section 16 of the Act, be treated as having been entitled to benefit for that day, but a person shall not be so treated where he shows that he did not intend, by failing to acquire or establish a right to benefit for that day, to avoid the necessity of requalifying for benefit under that section.

11 Disqualifications for disability benefit.

11.—(1) A person shall be disqualified for receiving disability benefit for such period not exceeding six weeks as may be determined under the provisions of the Act if—

(a) he has become incapable of work through his own misconduct ; or

(b) he fails without good cause to attend for, or to submit himself to, medical or other examination in accordance with sub-article (2) of this article ; or

(c) he fails without good cause to observe any of the rules of behaviour specified in the Third Schedule hereto.

(2)—(a) The Minister may, on giving not less than three clear days notice in writing, require any person who claims or is entitled to disability benefit to submit himself to medical or other examination at such time and place as may be specified in the notice.

(b) Notice of the time and place of the examination referred to in the foregoing paragraph shall also be sent to the registered medical practitioner in attendance on the person required to submit himself to such examination.

(c) Any reasonable and necessary travelling and subsistence expenses incurred by a person in attending for, or submitting himself to, examination under paragraph (a)of this sub-article shall be paid by the Minister, who shall determine in any particular case what is a reasonable and necessary amount of expenses.

(3) The Minister may exempt a person from the operation of rule 5 of the rules in the Third Schedule hereto for such period as he may think fit where the work is part-time and is by way of rehabilitation or occupational therapy or where the person has become incapable of following his usual occupation and is undergoing a course of training with a view to fitting himself to take up some other occupation.

Article 4.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

SHOWING REDUCED RATES OF DISABILITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT AND OF INCREASE OF BENEFIT IN RESPECT OF AN ADULT DEPENDANT.

Article 5.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

SHOWING REDUCED AMOUNTS OF MARRIAGE BENEFIT.

Article 11(1)(c).

THIRD SCHEDULE.

RULES OF BEHAVIOUR FOR A PERSON CLAIMING OR IN RECEIPT OF DISABILITY BENEFIT.

1. He shall obey the instructions of the doctor in attendance and answer any reasonable enquiries by the Minister or his officers relating to his claim.

2. He shall refrain from behaviour which is likely to retard his recovery.

3. He shall not be absent from his place of residence without leaving word where he may be found.

4. He shall not refuse unreasonably to see the Minister's sickness visitor (provided, however, that women shall not be visited otherwise than by women).

5. He shall do no work unless it be light work for which no remuneration is, or would ordinarily be, payable, or work undertaken primarily as a definite part of his treatment while he is a patient in or of a hospital, sanatorium, or other similar institution and his earnings in respect of that work do not exceed thirty shillings a week.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this 2nd day of January, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-three.

SÉAMAS Ó RIAIN,

Minister for Social Welfare.