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178A.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Part V of the Act of 1996—
(a) deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993 shall be payable to a woman who, in the case of a claim made on or after 31 August 1992 but before 2 January 1997, does not have an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of a prescribed amount, in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent period as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate,
(b) in the case of a woman who immediately before the commencement of section 19 of the Act of 1996 was in receipt of deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993, regulations may provide for the continued payment of deserted wife's benefit where—
(i) subject to paragraph (c), the woman has an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of an amount prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent tax year as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate, or
(ii) the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b) is not satisfied,
(c) regulations under paragraph (b) shall provide that deserted wife's benefit payable by virtue of that paragraph shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in reference 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which—
(i) the claimant has an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of the amount prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) but not in excess of the amount prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph, in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent period as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate, and
(ii) the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b) is satisfied,
but any increase of the benefit payable in accordance with subsection (3) shall be the same as if the conditions set out in paragraph (a) and subsection (2)(b) had been fully satisfied,
(d) (i) subject to subparagraph (ii), regulations may provide for entitling to deserted wife's benefit a person who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b) is not satisfied by reference to the insurance record of a person 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
,
(ii) regulations for the purposes of subparagraph (i) shall provide that deserted wife's benefit payable by virtue of that paragraph shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in reference 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which the contribution condition set out in subsection (2)(b)(ii) is satisfied.
(2) The contribution conditions for deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993 are—
(a) that the husband had qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 156 contribution weeks in the period beginning with his entry into insurance and ending immediately before the relevant time, and
(b) that, if at the relevant time, 4 years or longer has elapsed since the husband's entry into insurance—
(i) the yearly average for the 3 contribution years, or (if warranted by his insurance record) 5 contribution years, ending with the end of the last complete contribution year before the relevant time is not less than 39, or
(ii) the yearly average in respect of the period commencing at the beginning of the contribution year in which his entry into insurance occurred and ending at the end of the last complete contribution year before the relevant time is not less than 48,
but, if the foregoing conditions are not satisfied on the husband's insurance record, they may be satisfied on the woman's insurance record (the husband's insurance record being disregarded).
(3) For the purposes of a payment referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘relevant payment’ in section 178, the weekly rate of payment shall be increased by the appropriate amount set out—
(a) in column (4) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 in respect of each qualified child who normally resides with the beneficiary,
(b) in column (6) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 where the beneficiary has attained pensionable age and is living alone,
(c) in column (7) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 where the beneficiary has attained the age of 80 years, and
(d) in column (8) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 where the beneficiary has attained pensionable age and is ordinarily resident on an island.”.
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