Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014

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Payments programmes

3. The Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 2(1), by inserting the following definition:

“‘payment service provider’ has the meaning given to it by section 289A;”,

(b) in section 5, by substituting the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) Fees incurred on foot of an arrangement under section 289A with a payment service provider, subject to the arrangement concerned and the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform as to the manner of payment, shall be paid by the Minister out of the Social Insurance Fund to the payment service provider.”,

(c) in section 242—

(i) in subsection (1), by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) the payment of specified benefits through a payment service provider.”,

(ii) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (3):

“(4) (a) Any person presenting for payment of benefit, on his or her own behalf or on behalf of another person, shall satisfy the Minister, an officer of the Minister or a payment service provider as to his or her identity by furnishing—

(i) a public services card,

(ii) a card issued by the Minister under section 264, or

(iii) such information or document as the Minister, an officer of the Minister or a payment service provider may reasonably require for the purposes of authenticating the identity of that person.

(b) Where a person fails to comply with paragraph (a), payment of benefit may be withheld until such time as the identity of the person is authenticated.

(5) The information or documentation furnished for the purposes of authenticating identity under subsection (4)(a) may be recorded or retained by the Minister, an officer of the Minister or a payment service provider.”,

(d) in section 261, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (2A):

“(2B) Information held by the Minister for the purposes of this Act or the control of schemes administered by or on behalf of the Minister or the Department of Social Protection may be transferred by the Minister to a payment service provider, and information held by a payment service provider which is required for those purposes or the control of any such scheme administered by a payment service provider may be transferred by the payment service provider to the Minister.”,

(e) in section 263A, by inserting the following subsection after subsection (6):

“(7) Where a public services card issued to a person is presented to a payment service provider for the purposes of obtaining payment of benefit, the payment service provider may withhold payment, confiscate the card and surrender it as soon as practicable to the Minister if—

(a) the payment service provider becomes aware of a fact or circumstance, whether occurring before or after the issue of the public services card, that would have required or permitted the Minister to refuse to issue the public services card under section 263 to the person had the Minister been aware of the fact or the circumstance before the public services card was issued, or

(b) the payment service provider is notified or becomes aware that the public services card is, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, in the possession or control of a person other than the person to whom it is allocated and issued under section 263.”,

(f) in section 274(1), by substituting the following definition for the definition of “specified agency”:

“‘specified agency’ means a payment service provider or a person authorised to carry on banking business under section 9 of the Central Bank Act 1971 .”,

(g) by inserting the following section after section 289:

“Arrangements with payment service providers

289A. The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may enter into an arrangement with a person, in this section referred to as a ‘payment service provider’ for the provision of services by that payment service provider to the Minister in relation to the functions conferred on the Minister by or under this Act concerning the payment of benefit or assistance.”,

and

(h) in paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 5, by inserting “payment service provider,” after “a payment service provider (within the meaning of section 122 (1) of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 ) in relation to the purpose specified in that section of that Act,”.