Social Welfare (No. 2) Act, 1985

Amendment of section 43 of Principal Act (disablement benefit).

7.—Section 43 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution for paragraph (b) of subsection (7) of the following paragraph:—

“(b) The scale prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) shall be the same for all persons, except that a lower amount may be fixed for cases where, at the beginning of the period taken into account by the assessment, the beneficiary is under the age of 18 years and may be made to depend on the date on which the beneficiary will attain that age:

Provided that—

(i) such lower amount shall not in any case be less than two-thirds of the amount to which the beneficiary would otherwise be entitled, and

(ii) the higher rate shall be payable if the beneficiary would, if he were in receipt of injury benefit rather than disablement gratuity, be entitled to an increase of that benefit for a qualified child or children or for an adult dependant or would be so entitled but for the fact that his spouse is in employment (other than employment specified in paragraphs 4, 5 or 10 of Part II of the First Schedule), is engaged in self-employment, or is entitled to, or in receipt of, any benefit, assistance or allowance (other than supplementary welfare allowance) under Parts II or III of this Act or disabled person's maintenance allowance under section 69 of the Health Act, 1970 .”;

(b) the substitution for subsection (8) of the following subsection:—

“(8) Where the extent of the disablement is assessed for the period taken into account as amounting to 20 per cent. or more, disablement benefit shall be a pension (in this Chapter referred to as a disablement pension) for that period at the weekly rate set out in column (2) of Part III of the Second Schedule appropriate to the degree of disablement:

Provided that—

(a) where that period is limited by reference to a definite date, the pension shall cease on the death of the beneficiary before that date, and

(b) where the beneficiary is under the age of 18 years, the weekly rate for any degree of disablement shall be the rate set out in column (3) of Part III of the Second Schedule appropriate to the degree of disablement unless the beneficiary would, if in receipt of injury benefit rather than disablement pension, be entitled to an increase of that benefit for a qualified child or qualified children or for an adult dependant or would be so entitled but for the fact that his spouse is in employment (other than employment specified in paragraphs 4, 5 or 10 of Part II of the First Schedule), engaged in self-employment or is entitled to, or in receipt of, any benefit, assistance or allowance (other than supplementary welfare allowance) under Parts II or III of this Act, or disabled person's maintenance allowance under section 69 of the Health Act, 1970 .”; and

(c) the substitution for subsection (9) (b) (i) of the following paragraph:—

“(i) the scale shall be the same for all persons, except that a lower amount may be fixed thereby for cases where the beneficiary is under the age of 18 years, unless the beneficiary would, if in receipt of injury benefit rather than disablement pension, be entitled to an increase of that benefit for a qualified child or qualified children or for an adult dependant or would be so entitled but for the fact that his spouse is in employment (other than employment specified in paragraphs 4, 5 or 10 of Part II of the First Schedule), is engaged in self-employment or is entitled to, or in receipt of, any benefit, assistance or allowance (other than supplementary welfare allowance) under Parts II or III of this Act or disabled person's maintenance allowance under section 69 of the Health Act, 1970 ,”.