S.I. No. 97/1949 - Social Welfare (Northern Ireland Reciprocal Arrangements) Order, 1949.

S.I. No. 97 of 1949.

SOCIAL WELFARE (NORTHERN IRELAND RECIPROCAL ARRANGEMENTS) ORDER, 1949.

WHEREAS by virtue of Section 2 of the Social Welfare (Reciprocal Arrangements) Act, 1948 (No. 10 of 1948), the arrangements in respect of matters relating to National Health Insurance, Unemployment Insurance and compensation or benefit payable in respect of injuries arising out of and in the course of a person's employment and diseases or injuries due to the nature of a person's employment, set out in the Schedule to this Order have, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, been made by the Minister for Social Welfare with the proper authority of Northern Ireland :

NOW THEREFORE the Minister for Social Welfare in exercise of the powers conferred on him by Section 3 of the said Act and of each and every other power him in this behalf enabling, hereby orders as follows :

1. This Order may be cited as the Social Welfare (Northern Ireland Reciprocal Arrangements) Order, 1949.

2. The provisions contained in the arrangements set out in the said Schedule shall have full force and effect—

(a) as respects matters relating to National Health Insurance and Unemployment Insurance as from the 5th day of July, 1948, and

(b) as respects matters relating to Workmen's Compensation as from the 1st day of June, 1949,

and the National Health Insurance Acts, 1911 to 1948, the Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1948, and the Workmen's Compensation Acts, 1934 and 1948, shall have effect subject to such modifications as may be required for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions contained in the said arrangements.

3. Any contribution payable in respect of any period between the 5th day of July, 1948, and the date of this Order by virtue of the provisions of Part III of the arrangements set out in the said Schedule may be paid out of the funds arising from the contributions paid by employers in respect of masters, seamen or apprentices excluded from the provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1948.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this fourteenth day of April, Nineteen Hundred and Forty-nine.

WILLIAM NORTON,

Minister for Social Welfare.

SCHEDULE.

AGREEMENT relating to Insurance and Workmen's Compensation made this the twelfth day of April in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Forty-nine between the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance of the one part and the Minister for Social Welfare of the other part.

1.—(1) In this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires,

1946, Ch. 23.

" the Northern Ireland Act " means the National Insurance Act (Northern Ireland), 1946 ;

1946. Ch. 21, and 1946. Ch. 23.

" the Northern Ireland Acts " means the National Insurance Acts (Northern Ireland), 1946 ;

1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 55.

" the Éire Act " means the National Insurance Act, 1911 ;

10 & 11 Geo 5. c. 30. No. 9. of 1934.

" the Éire Acts " means the National Insurance Act, 1911, the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, and the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934 ;

S.R. & O. 1947, No. 76.

" sickness benefit " means, as the case may require, sickness benefit under the Northern Ireland Act or sickness or disablement benefit under the Éire Act together with any cash supplement payable under the Social Welfare Schemes (Cash Supplements) Order, 1947 ;

" maternity benefit " means, as the case may require, maternity benefit other than maternity allowance under the Northern Ireland Act, or maternity benefit under the Éire Act ;

" contributions of the appropriate class " means contributions (whether under the Northern Ireland Act or the Éire Act or under any enactment repealed by either of those Acts) having effect for the purposes, as the case may be, of sickness benefit or of maternity benefit or, under the Éire Act, of marriage benefit ;

" non-domiciled mariner " means, for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Acts, a person employed on board any ship or vessel who neither is domiciled nor has a place of residence in the United Kingdom, and, for the purposes of the Éire Acts, a person so employed who neither is domiciled nor has a place of residence in Éire ; and

" radio officer " means a person to whom this Agreement applies who is employed on board any ship or vessel in connection with the radio apparatus thereof.

(2) References in this Agreement to the Acts in force in Northern Ireland or Éire, respectively, shall be construed as references to the Northern Ireland Acts or the Éire Acts as the case may require.

(3) References in this Agreement to any enactment or order shall include a reference to such enactment or order as amended by any subsequent enactment, regulations or order.

2. Nothing in this Agreement shall confer a right to double benefit.

3. The said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance and the said Minister for Social Welfare shall from time to time determine the procedure appropriate for the purposes of this Agreement, and all matters of an incidental and supplementary nature which in their opinion are relevant for the purpose of giving effect thereto.

4. Such financial adjustments between the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund on the one hand and the Irish National Health Insurance Fund and the Unemployment Fund of Éire on the other, as may be agreed from time to time in connection with this Agreement, shall be made by the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance and the said Minister for Social Welfare.

5.—(1) This Agreement shall have effect as from the 5th July, 1948, but shall not apply so as to affect the operation of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934 , as respects any accident happening before the 1st June, 1949.

(2) The said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance or the said Minister for Social Welfare may terminate this Agreement or any Part thereof on giving not less than six months previous notice in writing.

PART I.

INSURANCE FOR SICKNESS BENEFIT AND MATERNITY BENEFIT.

6.—(1) Subject to the provisions of Articles 8 and 12 and of the following paragraphs of this Article, where a person insured under the Northern Ireland Act is on the 5th July, 1948, in Éire or thereafter goes to Éire, that person shall, in respect of any period for which he is in Éire occurring after the said date and before the expiration of six months from the date on which he last arrived in Éire, be treated for the purposes of his right to receive sickness or maternity benefit as if he were in Northern Ireland during that period and where a person insured under the Éire Act is on the 5th July, 1948, in Northern Ireland, or thereafter goes to Northern Ireland, that person shall in respect of any period for which he is in Northern Ireland occuring after the said date and before the expiration of six months from the date on which he last arrived in Northern Ireland, be treated for the purposes of his right to receive sickness benefit or maternity benefit as if he were in Éire during that period :

Provided that—

(a) for the purpose of calculating the said period of six months the temporary absence of a person from Northern Ireland or Éire, as the case may be, shall be disregarded and the question whether the absence of a person is or is not to be treated as temporary for the said purpose shall be determined under Article 3 ; and

(b) the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance or the said Minister for Social Welfare, as the case may be, may extend the said period of six months by not more than seven days in the circumstances of any particular case or class of cases.

(2) This Article shall not apply in the case of any such person being a woman who marries during the said period as from the date of her marriage.

(3) The rate at which any sickness benefit (apart from any increase) shall be payable to any person by virtue of this Article shall not exceed the maximum rate of that benefit (apart from any increase) appropriate to that person under the provisions of the Northern Ireland Act when that person is in Northern Ireland or of the Éire Act when that person is in Éire.

(4) In determining, in relation to any person to whom this Article applies, the question whether any such person is entitled to benefit under the Northern Ireland Act, or whether any such person is entitled to benefit or to remain insured under the Éire Act, and, for the purpose of any of these questions, the number of contributions paid by or in respect of him, any contributions of the appropriate class paid by or in respect of that person for any weeks in a period to which this Article applies and which is current at the date when that question arises shall be taken into account.

(5) Subject to the provisions of Article 10, this Article shall not confer any right to receive any increase of benefit under the Northern Ireland Act for a child or an adult dependant who is absent from Northern Ireland.

7. Where a person insured under the Northern Ireland Act goes to Éire and returns to Northern Ireland before the provisions of Article 6 cease to apply to him, he shall receive credit in Northern Ireland for contributions of the appropriate class paid in Éire during the period in question, and where a person insured under the Éire Act goes to Northern Ireland and returns to Éire before the provisions of Article 6 cease to apply to him, he shall receive credit in Éire for contributions of the appropriate class paid in Northern Ireland during the period in question.

8. A member of the Defence Forces of Éire who is insured under the Northern Ireland Act shall not be entitled to sickness benefit under that Act in respect of any period during which he is a member of such Forces.

9.—(1) Where a person insured under the Northern Ireland Act is in Éire at the expiration of the period during which the provisions of Article 6 applied to him, then for the purposes of sickness benefit and maternity benefit—

(a) the provisions of the Northern Ireland Act shall cease to apply in his case ; and

(b) in the application to him of the provisions of the Éire Act,

insurance, employment, contributions of the appropriate class paid (including such contributions credited or treated as paid) and benefits paid or claimed in Northern Ireland shall be treated as if they had been respectively insurance, employment, contributions of the appropriate class paid (including contributions credited or treated as paid) and benefits paid or claimed in Éire.

(2) Where a person insured under the Éire Act is in Northern Ireland at the expiration of the period during which the provisions of Article 6 applied to him, then—

(a) the provisions of the Éire Act shall cease to apply in his case ; and

(b) in the application to him, for the purposes of sickness benefit and maternity benefit, of the provisions of the Northern Ireland Act,

insurance, employment, contributions of the appropriate class paid (including such contributions credited or treated as paid) and benefits paid or claimed in Éire shall be treated as if they had been respectively insurance, employment, contributions of the appropriate class paid (including contributions credited or treated as paid) and benefits paid or claimed in Northern Ireland :

Provided that, in the case of a person who has been insured under the Éire Act and is in Northern Ireland, unless and until not less than thirteen such contributions have been paid by or in respect of him under the Northern Ireland Act since the beginning of the said period, the rate at which any such benefit (including any increase) shall be payable, shall not exceed the rate at which it would have been payable to him at the end of that period under the provisions of the Éire Act.

10. Where the wife or husband of a person insured under the Northern Ireland Act is in Éire such wife or husband shall be treated for the purposes of the right of that person to receive an increase of any sickness benefit to which that person may be entitled in respect of a wife or husband as if she or he were in Northern Ireland and where the wife or husband of a person insured under the Éire Act is in Northern Ireland, such wife or husband shall be treated for the purposes of the right of that person to receive an increase of any sickness benefits to which that person may be entitled in respect of a wife or husband as if she or he were in Éire.

11. Where the wife of a person insured under the Northern Ireland Act is in Éire, she shall be treated for the purpose of her right to receive maternity benefit in respect of that person's insurance as if she were in Northern Ireland and where the wife of a person insured under the Éire Act is in Northern Ireland, she shall be treated for the purpose of her right to receive maternity benefit in respect of that person's insurance as if she were in Éire.

1945. Ch 21

12. Where a person is incapable of work by reason of an accident or industrial disease, any payment made or title to payment under the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act (Northern Ireland), 1946, in respect of that accident or disease shall be treated as if it were a payment or title to payment under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934 , for the purposes of the Éire Act, and any weekly payment made or title to weekly payment under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934 , in respect of that accident or disease shall be treated as if it were a payment or title to payment of the like amount by way of injury benefit under the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act (Northern Ireland), 1946, for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Act.

PART II.

INSURANCE OF PERSONS WHO ARE RESIDENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND OR ÉIRE WHILE EMPLOYED IN ÉIRE OR NORTHERN IRELAND RESPECTIVELY, OR WHO, BEING ORDINARILY RESIDENT IN ÉIRE, ARE TEMPORARILY RESIDENT AND EMPLOYED IN NORTHERN IRELAND.

13.—(1) Where a person resident in Northern Ireland is employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship in Éire and is insured under the Éire Act in respect of that employment, his insurance for sickness benefit and maternity benefit shall be deemed to be under the Northern Ireland Act only, and that part of each contribution paid in respect of his employment as aforesaid which relates to sickness benefit and maternity benefit shall be treated as having been paid under the Northern Ireland Act and where a person resident in Éire is employed under a contract of service in Northern Ireland and insured accordingly, his insurance for sickness benefit and maternity benefit shall be deemed to be under the Éire Act only, and that part of each contribution paid in respect of his employment as aforesaid which relates to sickness benefit and maternity benefit shall be treated as having been paid under the Éire Act :

Provided that—

(a) nothing in this provision shall affect the obligation of that person or his employer to pay contributions under the Northern Ireland Act if he is employed in Northern Ireland or under the Éire Act if he is employed in Éire ;

(b) the rate of benefit payable to a person by virtue of this provision shall not exceed, in the case of a person resident in Northern Ireland and employed in Éire, the maximum rate appropriate to that person under the provisions of the Éire Act.

(2) In the case of a person to whom this Article applies the said Minister for Social Welfare shall account to the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance for a sum equal to that part of each contribution paid in Éire which relates to sickness benefit and maternity benefit and the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance shall account to the said Minister for Social Welfare for an equal sum in respect of each contribution paid in Northern Ireland which relates to sickness benefit and maternity benefit.

(3) In the event of the rate of contribution which relates to sickness benefit and maternity benefit or the rate of those benefits, or either of them, being revised in either Northern Ireland or Éire the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance and the said Minister for Social Welfare may make any agreed adjustment of the sum mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

14.—(1) Where a person resident in Northern Ireland is employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship in Éire and insured accordingly, his insurance for unemployment benefit shall, if he so elects, be deemed to be under the unemployment benefit scheme in force in Northern Ireland and where a person resident in Éire is employed under a contract of service in Northern Ireland and insured accordingly, his insurance for unemployment benefit shall, if he so elects, be deemed to be under the unemployment benefit scheme in force in Éire.

(2) In the case of a person to whom this Article applies, the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance shall account to the said Minister for Social Welfare for a sum equal to that part of each contribution (not being a contribution which has been taken into account for the purpose of making any payment of unemployment benefit on a claim made in the United Kingdom) paid as an employed person in Northern Ireland which relates to unemployment benefit and the said Minister for Social Welfare shall account to the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance for an equal sum in respect of each contribution paid in Éire which relates to unemployment benefit and against which such benefit has not been paid and an appropriate credit of contributions for unemployment benefit purposes shall be given to the person aforesaid :

Provided that for the purposes of this Article no account shall be taken of any contribution paid in respect of employment which occurred prior to the 5th July, 1948.

(3) (a) A person to whom by virtue of the provisions of the preceding paragraph contributions are credited in the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund shall, if he satisfies the conditions (other than those relating to contributions) for the receipt of unemployment benefit under the Northern Ireland Act and is free from the disqualifications for the receipt of unemployment benefit under that Act, be entitled to receive payment of unemployment benefit and (where payable) an increase for dependants at the appropriate rate set out in the Second Schedule to the Northern Ireland Act, so however that he shall not be virtue of this paragraph receive more than one day's unemployment benefit in respect of each contribution credited under the preceding paragraph of this Article and that the contributions so credited shall otherwise be disregarded for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Act except that, where unemployment benefit has been exhausted, contributions so credited in respect of employment performed in Éire subsequent to the date of exhaustion shall be taken into account as contributions of the appropriate class for the purposes of requalification for unemployment benefit.

(b) Contributions credited in the Unemployment Fund of Éire under the preceding paragraph shall be treated as if they were contributions paid in respect of employment in Éire, provided that each part of each contribution accounted for under that paragraph by the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance to the said Minister for Social Welfare shall, for purposes other than the ratio of benefit to contributions, be reckoned as one contribution to that Fund.

(4) In the event of the rate of contribution which relates to unemployment benefit or the rate of unemployment benefit being revised in either Northern Ireland or Éire the said Ministry of Labour and National Insurance and the said Minister for Social Welfare may make any agreed adjustment of the sum mentioned in paragraph (2) of this Article.

15. Where a person who—

(a) is ordinarily resident in Éire, and

(b) has been temporarily resident in Northern Ireland while employed under a contract of service there, and

(c) is not entitled to unemployment benefit in Northern Ireland by reason of proviso (ii) to sub-section (1) of Section 10 of the Northern Ireland Act,

returns to Éire and claims unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance there, the value of that part of each contribution paid by him as an employed person while so temporarily resident in Northern Ireland which relates to unemployment benefit shall be accounted for, if he so elects, by the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance to the Minister for Social Welfare and an appropriate number of contributions shall be credited to him in the Unemployment Fund of Éire and treated for the purposes of unemployment benefit as if they had been paid in respect of employment in Éire :

Provided that each part of each contribution so accounted for shall, for purposes other than the ratio of benefit to contributions, be reckoned as one contribution to that Fund.

16. Where in respect of any person the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance under paragraph (2) of Article 14 or under Article 15 has accounted to the Minister for Social Welfare in respect of the contributions specified in those Articles, there shall be disregarded, for the purposes of the right of that person to receive unemployment benefit under the Northern Ireland Act, any contributions as an employed person under that Act in respect of which such accounting has taken place, and where in respect of any person the Minister for Social Welfare under paragraph (2) of Article 14 has accounted to the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance in respect of the contributions specified in that Article, there shall be disregarded, for the purpose of determining the number of days for which unemployment benefit is payable under the Éire Acts, any contributions paid under those Acts in respect of which such accounting has taken place.

PART III.

INSURANCE AND WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION FOR MASTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE CREWS OF SHIPS AND VESSELS.

17. The provisions of this Part of this Agreement shall apply as respects any person who is employed under a contract of service as master or a member of the crew of any ship or vessel.

18. For the purposes of the Northern Ireland Acts, a person shall not be treated as a non-domiciled mariner if he is domiciled or has a place of residence in Éire and for the purposes of the Éire Acts a person shall not be so treated if he is domiciled or has a place of residence in the United Kingdom.

19. Where any person to whom this Part of this Agreement applies is employed on board a ship or vessel whose port of registry is a port in Northern Ireland and of which the owner (or managing owner if there is more than one owner) resides or has his principal place of business in Éire, then, subject to the provisions of Articles 20 and 21, in respect of that employment the provisions of the Acts in force in Northern Ireland shall not apply to that person, and he shall be subject (in so far as they are applicable) to the provisions of the Acts in force in Éire and where any person to whom this Part of this Agreement applies is employed on board a ship or vessel whose port of registry is a port in Éire and of which the owner (or managing owner if there is more than one owner) resides or has his principal place of business in Northern Ireland, then, subject to the provisions of Articles 20 and 21, in respect of that employment the provisions of the Acts in force in Éire shall not apply to that person, and he shall be subject (in so far as they are applicable) to the provisions of the Acts in force in Northern Ireland.

20. If a radio officer is insurable under the National Insurance Acts in force in Great Britain by virtue of the fact that he is paid remuneration in respect of his employment as a radio officer by some person (other than the owner of the ship or vessel) having his principal place of business in Great Britain the provisions of the Acts in force in Northern Ireland or Éire, as the case may be, in respect of that employment shall not apply to that radio officer.

21. Where a person to whom this Part of this Agreement applies (other than a non-domiciled mariner or a radio officer to whom the immediately preceding Article applies) is employed on board a ship or vessel engaged in regular trade between Éire and the United Kingdom, being a ship or vessel—

(a) whose port of registry is a port in Northern Ireland, or Éire, where, in the latter case, the owner (or managing owner if there is more than one owner) resides or has his principal place of business in Northern Ireland ; or

(b) of which the owner (or managing owner if there is more than one owner) resides or has his principal place of business

(i) in Northern Ireland and whose port of registry is not a port in Great Britain, or

(ii) in Éire and whose port of registry is a port in Northern Ireland,

then, in respect of that employment—

(i) if that person is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the provisions of the Northern Ireland Acts shall, and those of the Éire Acts shall not. apply ; and

(ii) if that person is ordinarily resident in Éire the provisions of the Éire Acts shall, and those of the Northern Ireland Acts shall not, apply.

22.—(1) Where any person to whom this part of this Agreement applied at the relevant time specified in paragraph (2) of this Article—

(a) is entitled in Northern Ireland to unemployment benefit under the Northern Ireland Act, or to industrial injury benefit under the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act (Northern Ireland), 1946, and the wife or husband of that person is in Éire or

(b) is entitled in Éire to unemployment benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, or to weekly payments by way of compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1934 , and the wife or husband of that person is in Northern Ireland ;

such wife or husband shall be treated for the purpose of any right of that person to receive an increase of any such unemployment benefit or industrial injury benefit or an allowance (if any) additional to such weekly payments in respect of a wife or husband as if she or he were in Northern Ireland or Éire, as the case may be.

(2) For the purposes of this Article the relevant time means—

(a) in the case of a person entitled to unemployment benefit, immediately before the termination of his last employment before becoming so entitled, and

(b) in the case of a person entitled to industrial injury benefit or weekly payments by way of compensation, immediately before the termination of the employment in respect of which such benefit or compensation is payable.

23.—(1) In determining for the purposes of Part I of this Agreement relating to insurance for sickness benefit and maternity benefit whether a person is in Northern Ireland or Éire, any period of employment on board a ship or vessel which is employment to which the provisions of the Northern Ireland Acts apply shall be treated as if it were a period during which that person was in Northern Ireland and any period of employment on board a ship or vessel which is employment to which the provisions of the Éire Acts apply shall be treated as if it were a period during which that person was in Éire.

(2) The limitation imposed by paragraph (3) of Article 6 of Part I of this Agreement on the rate of sickness benefit payable by virtue of that Article shall not apply in the case of any person to whom this Part of this Agreement applied immediately before he became entitled to that benefit.

PART IV.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND INSURANCE IN THE CASE OF PERSONS WHO ARE EMPLOYED IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND IN ÉIRE IN THE SAME CONTRIBUTION WEEK.

24. Where a person is employed both in Northern Ireland and in Éire by the same employer in the same contribution week insurance contributions for that week shall, if the person is resident in Northern Ireland, be payable only under the Acts in force in Northern Ireland and he shall be insured by virtue of the employment in Northern Ireland only and, if the person is resident in Éire, be payable only under the Acts in force in Éire and he shall be insured by virtue of the employment in Éire only :

Provided that this provision shall not apply in relation to contributions and insurance under the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act (Northern Ireland), 1946.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance on the day and year first herein appearing.

BRIAN MAGINESS,

Minister of Labour and National Insurance.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare on the day and year first herein appearing.

WILLIAM NORTON,

Minister for Social Welfare.