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Carer's benefit — improvement to entitlement conditions.
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6.—The Principal Act is amended—
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(a) in section 82A (inserted by section 10 of the Act of 2000), in subsection (1), by inserting the following before the definition of “relevant person”:
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“ ‘relevant period’ means the period of 26 weeks immediately before the first day in respect of which a claim to carer's benefit is made;”,
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(b) in section 82B (as amended by section 15 of the Act of 2002):
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(i) by substituting the following for paragraph (a) of subsection (1):
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“(a) was engaged in remunerative full-time employment as an employed contributor for not less than 8 weeks, whether consecutive or not, within the relevant period,”,
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(ii) by substituting the following for subsection (2):
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“(2) Subsection (1)(a) shall not apply in respect of a claimant who was in receipt of carer's benefit within the relevant period.”,
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and
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(iii) by substituting the following for subsections (5) and (6):
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“(5) In this section ‘remunerative full-time employment’ means remunerative employment for not less than 16 hours a week within the 8 weeks referred to in subsection (1)(a) or any period that may be prescribed under subsection (6), provided that where any 2 of those weeks are consecutive, the requirement in relation to those 2 weeks may be satisfied by an aggregate of not less than 32 hours in that fortnight.
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(6) Regulations may provide that, subject to the conditions and in the circumstances that may be prescribed, in the case of a person who was absent from his or her employment within the relevant period referred to in subsection (1)(a), by reason of being on any leave from that employment that may be prescribed, the condition specified in subsection (1)(a) shall be regarded as being satisfied in respect of that person if he or she was engaged in remunerative full-time employment as an employed contributor for 8 weeks, whether consecutive or not, within the relevant period (other than the relevant period referred to in that subsection) that may be prescribed (and the period that may be so prescribed may comprise 2 or more periods which, taken together, amount to a period of 26 weeks).”.
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