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17 1948

SOCIAL WELFARE ACT, 1948

PART IV.

Amendments of The Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1946.

Interpretation of Part IV.

23. —(1) In this Part—

the expression “the Acts” means the Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1946;

the expression “the Principal Act” means the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920;

the expression “the Scheme” means The Insurance Industry Unemployment Insurance Scheme established under the Acts.

(2) This Part shall be construed as one with the Acts.

Amendment of meaning in the Acts of a continuous period of unemployment and amendment of Article 7 of the Scheme.

24. —(1) For the purposes of the Acts—

(a) any three days (including three days of which one or two is or are before the date of the passing of this Act) of unemployment, whether consecutive or not, within a period of six consecutive days shall be treated as a continuous period of unemployment, and

(b) any such continuous period of unemployment and either another such continuous period, of unemployment or a continuous period of unemployment before the date of the passing of this Act, being separated by a period of not more than twenty weeks, shall be treated as one continuous period of unemployment, and

(c) the expression “continuously unemployed” shall be construed accordingly.

(2) In Article 7 of the Scheme, paragraph (1) (being the paragraph inserted by the Unemployment Insurance (Insurance Industry Special Scheme) Amendment Order, 1942 (S.R. & O., No. 550 of 1942)) shall be deleted and the following paragraph substituted:—

“(1) The conditions for the receipt of out-of-work benefit by a person insured under the Scheme shall be the conditions mentioned in relation to unemployment benefit in section 7 of the Act, as amended by section 10 of the Unemployment Insurance (No. 2) Act, 1921, and by subsection (1) of section 24 of the Social Welfare Act, 1948, and the said section 7 as so amended shall apply for the purposes of the Scheme.”

Amendment of First Schedule to the Principal Act and amendment of section 8 of the said Act.

25. —(1) Paragraph (h) of Part II of the First Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the words “five hundred pounds” for the words “two hundred and fifty pounds” where the latter words occur.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister shall by order fix for that purpose.

(3) (a) Any stated insurance year, during the whole or any part of which a person was engaged in any employment, which, before the commencement of subsection (1) of this section, was, by virtue of paragraph (h) of Part II of the First Schedule to the Principal Act, an excepted employment and during which no contribution was paid in respect of that person under the Acts or the Scheme shall, as respects any claim to unemployment benefit or out-of-work benefit made on or after the commencement of subsection (1) of this section, be disregarded for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 8 of the Principal Act, as amended by section 6 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1926 (No. 21 of 1926), or the said subsection (4) as so amended and applied to the Scheme.

(b) In this subsection, the expression “stated insurance year” means—

(i) in relation to a claimant to unemployment benefit, any insurance year in the period which began on the 7th day of October, 1940, and will end on the 3rd day of October, 1948,

(ii) in relation to a claimant to out-of-work benefit, any insurance year in the period which began on the 1st day of July, 1940, and will end on the 30th day of June, 1949.

Amendment of paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act.

26. —In the Second Schedule to the Principal Act, there shall be substituted, for paragraph 1, the following paragraph:—

“1. Unemployment benefit shall be payable in respect of each week of any continuous period of unemployment after the first week of unemployment and shall, in the case of recipients of any class set out in column (2) of the Table to this paragraph at any reference number, be at the weekly rate set out in column (3) of the said Table at that reference number.

Table to Paragraph 1.

Weekly Rates of Benefit.

Ref. No.

Class of recipient

Weekly rate of benefit

(1)

(2)

(3)

s.

d.

1

Men (18 years or over)

22

6

2

Women (18 years or over)

18

0

3

Boys (under 18 years)

11

6

4

Girls (under 18 years)

9

0

Payment out of the Unemployment Fund to the Exchequer.

27. —A sum equal to so much (if any) of the moneys paid, under Article 13 of the Order of 1947, into the Unemployment Fund as is referable to payments made, under Article 6 of the Order of 1947, in respect of the period commencing on the 1st day of July, 1948, and ending on the day immediately preceding the date of the passing of this Act shall be paid out of the Unemployment Fund to the Exchequer.

Alteration of rates of contribution.

28. —(1) The contributions payable under the Acts in respect of employed persons by those persons and by their employers respectively shall, in lieu of the rates fixed by subsection (1) of section 2 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1933 (No. 44 of 1933), be at the respective rates set out in columns (3) and (4) of the Table to this subsection.

Table to Subsection (1).

Weekly rates of contributions payable by employed persons and employers.

Ref. No.

Class of employed person

Weekly rate of contribution

By the employed person

By the employer

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

s.

d.

s.

d.

1

Men (18 years or over)

0

11

1

0

2

Women (18 years or over)

0

9

0

10

3

Boys (under 18 years)

0

5

0

6

4

Girls (under 18 Years)

0

5

0

5

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on the 4th day of October, 1948.

Amendment of section 1 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1922, and paragraph 4 of the Second Schedule to the Scheme.

29. —(1) Subsection (1) of section 1 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1922, shall be construed and have effect—

(a) as if for the words “five shillings”, where they occur, there were substituted the words “seven shillings and sixpence”, and

(b) as if for the words “one shilling” there were substituted the words “two shillings and sixpence”.

(2) Paragraph 4 of the Second Schedule to the Scheme shall be construed and have effect—

(a) as if for the words “five shillings”, where they occur, there were substituted the words “seven shillings and sixpence”, and

(b) as if for the words “one shilling” there were substituted the words “two shillings and sixpence”.