Working Family Payment
SWCA 2005
Part 6
Working family payment (ss. 227-233)
227.
Interpretation.
In this Part –
“child”, in relation to a family, means a qualified child as defined in section 2(3) who normally resides with that family;
“civil partner”, includes a civil partner whose civil partnership has been dissolved, being a dissolution that is recognised as valid in the State;
“family” means –
(a)a person who is engaged in remunerative full-time employment as an employee,
(b)where that person is living with or wholly or mainly maintaining –
(i)his or her spouse,
(ii)his or her civil partner, or
(iii)his or her cohabitant,
that spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, and
(c)a child or children;
“working family payment” shall be read in accordance with section 228;
“spouse” includes –
(a)a party to a marriage that has been dissolved, being a dissolution that is recognised as valid in the State, or
(b)[deleted];
“weekly family income” means, subject to regulations under section 232, the amount of income received in a week by a family, less –
(a)any allowable contribution referred to in Regulations 41 and 42 of the Income Tax (Employments) (Consolidated) Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 559 of 2001),
(aa)any allowable pension payment within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Contributions and Insurability) (Amendment) (No. 1) (Refunds) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 698 of 2003),
(b)any income tax payable under the Income Tax Acts as defined in section 1 of the Act of 1997 applicable to Schedule E,
(c)any contributions payable under section 13(2)(b) or regulations under section 14,
(d)[deleted]
(e)[deleted]
(f)any income of a person who in respect of that family is a child, or
(g)any contribution payable under Part 18D of the Act of 1997 and known as universal social charge.
228.
Working family payment.
Subject to this Act, an allowance (in this Act referred to as ‘working family payment’) shall be payable out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas in respect of a family where the weekly family income is less than –
(a)in the case of a family which includes only 1 child, €645,
(b)in the case of a family which includes 2 children, €746,
(c)in the case of a family which includes 3 children, €847,
(d)in the case of a family which includes 4 children, €938,
(e)in the case of a family which includes 5 children, €1,064,
(f)in the case of a family which includes 6 children, €1,180,
(g)in the case of a family which includes 7 children, €1,316, or
(h)in the case of a family which includes 8 or more children, €1,412.
229.
Rate of supplement.
(1)Subject to this Part, the weekly rate of working family payment shall be 60 per cent of the amount by which the weekly family income is less than the amount appropriate in the particular case under section 228.
(2)In calculating the weekly rate of working family payment under subsection (1), any fraction of €1 shall be treated as €1 and where the weekly rate so calculated is below a prescribed amount, the supplement shall be payable at the prescribed amount.
230.
Period of payment.
(1)Working family payment shall be payable for a period of 52 weeks (or such other period as may be prescribed) beginning on the date on which it is receivable in accordance with regulations and, except where regulations otherwise provide, the weekly rate of working family payment payable shall not be affected by any change of circumstances during that period.
(2)Where working family payment is payable in respect of a particular family for any period, no person who was included in that family at the beginning of that period shall be regarded as a member of any other family during that period.
230A. Person to be regarded as member of one family only.
[Section requires commencement]
231.
Person to whom supplement is payable.
Working family payment shall be payable to the member of the family (other than a child) who is engaged in remunerative full-time employment as an employee or, where there are 2 members of the family so engaged, to the member whose weekly income as calculated for the purposes of working family payment forms the greater part of the weekly family income as so calculated.
232.
Regulations.
(1)The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to this Part.
(2)Regulations under this section may, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1):
(a)provide for the manner of calculation or estimation of weekly family income;
(b)provide, in calculating or estimating weekly family income, for the disregarding in whole or in part of any amount of that income from any source specified in the regulations;
(c)determine the circumstances in which a person shall be regarded as being engaged in remunerative full-time employment as an employee;
(d)require employers to give such information as the Minister may require for the purpose of determining a claim for working family payment.
(3)The Minister may by regulations vary –
(a)the amounts specified in section 228, and
(b)the percentage rate specified in section 229 (1),
but any such variation shall not reduce the amounts or the percentage rate applicable immediately before the commencement of those regulations.
233.
Receipt of claims.
(1)Regulations may provide for treating a claim for working family payment as having been made on a date earlier than the date on which it is received, where it appears to the Minister that the claimant would have satisfied the conditions for entitlement to working family payment during that period, but for the receipt by that person of jobseeker’s benefit, jobseeker’s benefit (self-employed) or jobseeker’s allowance.
(2)Where –
(a)in respect of any period any jobseeker’s benefit, jobseeker’s benefit (self-employed) or jobseeker’s allowance has been paid to or in respect of a person who, though entitled to working family payment by virtue of subsection (1), is not in receipt of that supplement, and
(b)that benefit or allowance is in excess of the amount which would have been granted to that person if he or she had been in receipt of working family payment,
the Minister may reduce any such supplement which is or may become payable to that person by the amount of the excess and that amount shall be treated as having been paid on account of the working family payment.