Social Welfare Act, 1952

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SEVENTH SCHEDULE.

Rules as to Calculation of Means.

Sections 77 . 105 and 106 :

1. In calculating the means of a person, account shall be taken of the following:—

(I) the yearly value of any property belonging to the person (not being property personally used or enjoyed by the person) which is invested or is otherwise put to profitable use by the person or which though capable of investment or profitable use is not so invested or put to profitable use by the person, the yearly value of the property being calculated as follows:

(a) the first £25 of the capital value of the property shall be excluded, and

(b) the yearly value of the next £375 of the capital value of the property shall be taken to be one-twentieth part of the capital value, and

(c) the yearly value of so much of the capital value of the property as exceeds the sum of £400, shall be taken to be one-tenth part of the capital value,

but no account shall be taken under any other provision of these Rules of any appropriation of the property for the purpose of current expenditure;

(II) all income in cash (including, in the case of pensions under the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1952, the net cash value of any non-cash earnings derived from personal exertions) which the person may reasonably expect to receive during the year succeeding the date of calculation, but excluding—

(a) any income received by way of general assistance under the Public Assistance Act, 1939 (No. 27 of 1939),

(b) any sums arising from the investment or profitable use of property (not being property personally used or enjoyed by the person),

(c) any sums received by way of pension, allowance, assistance or benefit under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1952, the Unemployment Assistance Acts, 1933 to 1952, the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1952, the Children's Allowances Acts, 1944 and 1946, or Part III of this Act,

(d) any income arising from a bonus under a scheme administered by the Minister for Education for the making of special grants to parents or guardians resident in the Gaeltacht or Breac-Ghaeltacht of children attending primary schools,

(e) any income arising from voluntary or gratuitous payments so far as it does not exceed £52 5s. 0d. per year,

(f) any income arising by way of payments under section 44 of the Health Act, 1947 (No. 28 of 1947), by a health authority to or in respect of the person or the person's dependants,

(g) an amount of an allowance, special allowance, dependant's allowance, disability pension or wound pension under the Army Pensions Acts, 1923 to 1949, or pension under the Military Service Pensions Acts, 1924 to 1949, or of a combination of such allowances and such pensions except so far as such amount exceeds £80 per year,

(h) in the case of a blind person, his earnings (including wages and profit from any form of self-employment) as a blind person except and in so far as the annual amount of such earnings is calculated to exceed an amount made up as follows:

(i) if the person is a man—£52, plus £39 if he has a wife living with or wholly or mainly maintained by him or, being a single man or widower, is maintaining wholly or mainly a female person over the age of sixteen years having the care of one or more than one qualified child who normally resides or reside with him, plus £26 for each qualified child normally residing with him,

(ii) if the person is a woman—£52, plus £26 for each qualified child normally residing with her, plus £39 if she is wholly or mainly maintaining her husband who is incapable of self-support by reason of some physical or mental infirmity,

(i) any income arising from a grant or allowance in pursuance of a scheme for promoting the welfare of the blind prepared under section 2 of the Blind Persons Act, 1920 ,

and such income shall, in the absence of other means for ascertaining it, be taken to be that actually received during the year immediately preceding the date of calculation;

(III) the yearly value of any advantage accruing to the person from the use or enjoyment of property (other than furniture and personal effects) which is personally used or enjoyed by the person.

2. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this Rule, if it appears that any person has, whether before or after the passing of this Act, directly or indirectly deprived himself or herself of any income or property in order to qualify himself or herself for the receipt of the pension in question, or for the receipt thereof at a higher rate than that to which he or she would otherwise be entitled, that income or the yearly value of that property shall for the purposes of these Rules be taken to be part of the means of that person.

(2) (a) Subject to subparagraph (b) of this paragraph, paragraph (1) of this Rule shall not apply to any assignment—

(i) which is an assignment to a child or children of the assignor, and

(ii) as respects which the property comprised therein consists of a farm of land (together with or without the stock and chattels thereon) the rateable value of which (including the buildings thereon) does not exceed £30 and of which the assignor is the owner and the occupier or the occupier only.

(b) Subparagraph (a) of this paragraph shall not apply to an assignment by a person who, at any time within the three years ending when the relevant claim for a pension or application for an increase of a pension is made, was, as respects any agricultural lands exceeding £30 in rateable value or aggregate rateable value, the owner and occupier thereof, the occupier only thereof or the owner and occupier of part thereof and the occupier only of the remainder.

(c) In this paragraph “assignment” includes any form of conveyance, transfer or other transaction by which a person parts with the ownership or possession of property.

3. (1) In the case of pensions under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1952, the following provisions shall have effect when calculating the means of a person who is one of a married couple living together:

(a) the means of the person shall be taken to be one-half of the total means of the married couple;

(b) the person shall be deemed to be entitled to one-half of all property to which the person or the other member of the married couple is entitled or to which the person and the other member of the married couple are jointly entitled;

(c) for the purposes of this Rule the means of each of the married couple shall first be determined in accordance with these Rules (each being regarded as an applicant for a pension or a pension at a higher rate) and the total means shall be the sum of the means of each so determined;

(d) where one member of a married couple dies, nothing which was reckoned for the purposes of pension, or would (if such deceased member had been entitled to receive any pension) have been so reckoned, as means of the deceased member shall be so reckoned as means of the surviving member for the purpose of reducing the pension of the surviving member if any payment in respect of that pension was made before the death of the deceased member or becomes payable in respect of a period previous or partly previous to that death.

(2) Where a husband is separated from his wife, any sum paid by him to her under a separation order shall be deducted in calculating his means.

4. The means of a widow shall, in the case of widows' (non-contributory) pensions, be deemed to include—

(a) if there is one qualified child (and not more) normally residing with her—any means of the child (excluding any cash income derived from personal exertions),

(b) if there are two qualified children (and not more) normally residing with her—any means of the children (excluding any cash income derived from personal exertions),

(c) if there are more than two qualified children normally residing with her—the means of two of the children, the means of each child being taken for this purpose to be the average of the means of all the children (excluding any cash income derived from personal exertions).