PART VIII

Amendment of Part VII of Principal Act: Decisions, Appeals And Social Welfare Tribunal

Supplementary welfare allowance — appeals.

30. —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the deletion in section 251 of “, except the provisions relating to supplementary welfare allowance,”,

(b) the insertion after section 257 of the following section:

“257A.—Where a person is dissatisfied with the determination of an appeal by him or her under section 267 in relation to a claim for supplementary welfare allowance, the question shall, on notice of appeal being given to the health board within the prescribed time, be forwarded by the board to the Chief Appeals Officer for referral to an appeals officer.”,

(c) the substitution in section 257(3) for “under subsection (1), shall not be confined to the grounds on which the decision of the deciding officer was based,” of “under subsection (1) or section 257A, shall not be confined to the grounds on which the decision of the deciding officer, or the determination of the officer of the health board, as the case may require, was based,”,

(d) the insertion in section 265 after “263” of “, 268(1)(c)”,

(e) the insertion in section 266 after “section 267” of “or section 257A”,

(f) the substitution in section 267(1) for “a person (being either another officer of the health board or a person not such an officer)” of “another officer of the health board”,

(g) the substitution for section 268 of the following section:

“268.—(1) An officer of a health board who is duly authorised to determine entitlement to a supplementary welfare allowance may, at any time—

(a) revise a determination of another officer of a health board, other than an officer appointed or designated under section 267(1), to such allowance if it appears to the officer that the determination was erroneous in the light of new evidence or of new facts which have been brought to the officer's notice since the date on which the determination was given or by reason of some mistake having been made in relation to the law or the facts, or if it appears to the officer that there has been any relevant change of circumstances since the determination was given,

(b) revise the determination of another officer of a health board appointed or designated under section 267(1), if it appears to the officer that there has been any relevant change of circumstances which has come to notice since the determination was given, or

(c) revise the decision of an appeals officer, if it appears to the officer that there has been any relevant change of circumstances which has come to notice since the decision was given,

and the provisions of this Part as to appeals shall apply to the revised determination in the same manner as they apply to an original determination of an officer of a health board.

(2) Subsections (1)(a) and (1)(b) shall not apply to a determination relating to a matter which is on appeal under sections 257A or 267(1), as the case may require, unless the revised determination would be in favour of a claimant.”, and

(h) the insertion after section 265 of the following section:

“265A.—For the purposes of supplementary welfare allowance, every reference in this Part to a decision shall be construed as a reference to a determination.”.

(2) This section shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders to apply to supplementary welfare allowance generally or to supplementary welfare allowance payable by virtue of specific provisions in Chapter 11 of Part III of the Principal Act.

Decisions and determinations under Social Welfare Acts.

31. —The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion after section 273 of the following section:

“273A.—The Minister may make regulations specifying the procedures to be followed by—

(a) a deciding officer, when deciding questions under sections 247 and 248,

(b) an appeals officer, when deciding questions under sections 250, 257 and 257A, and

(c) an officer of a health board in making determinations in relation to supplementary welfare allowance including determinations under section 267(1).”.

Effect of revised decisions.

32. —Each provision of the Principal Act mentioned in column (1) of Schedule H to this Act is hereby amended in the manner specified in column (2) of that Schedule opposite the mention of that provision in column (1).

Amendment of section 274 of Principal Act.

33. —Section 274 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of “a deciding officer or an appeals officer” for “a deciding officer and appeals officer”.

Award of expenses.

34. —Section 261 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection:

“(1) (a) In relation to any matter referred to an appeals officer under this Part the following provisions shall apply:

(i) subject to subparagraph (ii), an award shall not be made in respect of any costs (whether in respect of the representation of the appellant or otherwise in relation to such matter) incurred by a person,

(ii) an appeals officer may make an award to a person appearing before the officer towards the person's expenses, which shall be payable by the Minister.

(b) In paragraph (a)(ii), ‘expenses’ means—

(i) expenses necessarily incurred by the appellant or a witness in respect of his or her travel and subsistence or loss of remuneration, and

(ii) in the case of a person appearing before an appeals officer in a representative capacity, an amount only in respect of that person's actual attendance.”.