Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013

Maternity benefit — rate of benefit

5. (1) Section 49 (amended by section 7 of the Act of 2005) of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) Subject to this Act, the weekly rate of maternity benefit shall be—

(a) in the case of a claim for maternity benefit where the first day in respect of which benefit is payable is before 6 January 2014, an amount equal to the greater of—

(i) 80 per cent of the reckonable weekly earnings, reckonable weekly emoluments or reckonable weekly income, as the case may be, of the woman to whom the benefit is payable in the income tax year prescribed for the purposes of this section, or

(ii) the amount of illness benefit, including any increases of that benefit, which the woman would otherwise receive if she was entitled to that benefit, or

(iii) any amount that shall be prescribed, for the purposes of this paragraph,

or

(b) in the case of a claim for maternity benefit where the first day in respect of which benefit is payable is on or after 6 January 2014, an amount equal to the greater of—

(i) the amount of illness benefit, including any increases of that benefit, which the woman would otherwise receive if she was entitled to that benefit, or

(ii) €230.”.

(2) This section comes into operation on 6 January 2014.