S.I. No. 147/2006 - Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 1) (Early Childcare Supplement) Regulations 2006

S.I. No. 147 of 2006

SOCIAL WELFARE (CONSOLIDATED PAYMENTS PROVISIONS) (AMENDMENT) (No. 1) (EARLY CHILDCARE SUPPLEMENT) REGULATIONS 2006

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 4 (as amended by section 17 and Schedule 3 of the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 (No. 5 of 2006)), 223B (as inserted by section 28 of the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Act 2006 ) and 242 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26 of 2005), hereby makes the following regulations:

Citation and construction.

1.(1) These regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 1) (Early Childcare Supplement) Regulations 2006.

(2) These regulations and the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) Regulations, 1994 to 2006 shall be construed together as one and may be cited together as the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) Regulations 1994 to 2006.

Commencement.

2. These regulations come into operation on 1 April 2006.

Definitions.

3. In these regulations “the Principal Regulations” means the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 417 of 1994 ).

Sums etc. disregarded in determining weekly family income.

4. The Principal Regulations are amended in paragraph (a) of article 96 (amended by article 5 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 13) (Carers) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 340 of 2000 )) by substituting “child benefit, early childcare supplement” for “child benefit”.

Interpretation.

5. The Principal Regulations are amended by substituting the following for the definition of “benefit” in article 99 (as amended by article 6 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 1996 ( S.I. No. 189 of 1996 )):

“ ‘benefit’ means -

(a) any benefit payable under Part 2 (other than occupational injuries benefits under Chapter 13 and treatment benefit under Chapter 22 of the said Part),

(b) any assistance payable under Part 3 (other than supplementary welfare allowance payable under Chapter 9 of the said Part),

(c) child benefit under Part 4,

(d) early childcare supplement under Part 4A,

(e) respite care grant under Part 5,

(f) family income supplement under Part 6,

(g) continued payment for qualified children under Part 7, and

(h) EU payments under Part 8;”.

Commencement of awards - early childcare supplement

6. The Principal Regulations are amended by inserting after article 109 the following:

“Commencement of awards - early childcare supplement.

109A. Early childcare supplement shall commence to accrue as follows:

(a) on the first day of the quarter in which the claimant becomes a qualified person, provided that entitlement to the early childcare supplement is determined within the 6 months commencing on the first day of that quarter, or

(b) in the case of a claim made by a person who becomes a qualified person by and on the death of another person who had been entitled to early childcare supplement at the date of death, on the first day of the quarter in which the claim is made.

Normal residence - early childcare supplement.

109B. For the purposes of early childcare supplement, where the persons specified in Rule 1 of article 91 are resident in separate households, the qualified child shall be regarded as normally residing with the person with whom he or she resides for the majority of the quarter.”.

Time of payment.

7. The Principal Regulations are amended in article 110(1) -

(a) in paragraph (d) by deleting “and”, and

(b) by substituting for paragraph (e) the following:

“(e) in the case of family income supplement, weekly in advance on the Thursday of each week, and

(f) in the case of early childcare supplement, for the period commencing on 1 April 2006 and ending on 31 December 2006, in respect of each period of three months specified in column (1) of the table to this sub-article on the day specified in column (2) of that table.

TABLE

”.

Payments no longer due

8. The Principal Regulations are amended in article 113A (inserted by article 4 of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Payments Provisions) (Amendment) (No. 8) (Miscellaneous) Regulations 1998 ( S.I. No. 187 of 1998 )) by substituting “child benefit or early childcare supplement” for “child benefit” in each place where it occurs.

The Minister for Health and Children hereby consents to the making of the foregoing regulations.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the making of the foregoing regulations.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations set out the dates on which Early Childcare Supplement will be payable, for the period April to December 2006.

The Regulations also:

•    Disregard the Early Childcare Supplement in determining the weekly family income for Family Income Supplement purposes,

•    Include Early Childcare Supplement in the definition of benefit, for the purposes of claims and payments provisions,

•    Determine the first day of the quarter in which a child is born as being the date from which Early Childcare Supplement becomes payable,

•    Provide that the maximum period for which Early Childcare Supplement may be backdated is 6 months,

•    In cases of shared custody of a qualified child who resides on a part-time basis with each of his or her parents, Early Childcare Supplement is payable to the parent with whom the child resides for the greater part of the quarter, and

•    Require recipients of Early Childcare Supplement to return any payments not due as a result of a change in their circumstances.