Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2010

Maternity allowance and carer’s allowance

14.—(1) The following provisions of the Contributions and Benefits Act are omitted on the day after Royal Assent (in this section referred to as “the relevant date”)—

(a) section 82 (maternity allowance: increase for adult dependants); and

(b) section 90 (carer’s allowance: increase for adult dependants).

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) or Part 2 of Schedule 4 applies in relation to—

(a) the amount of a maternity allowance payable for a maternity allowance period (within the meaning of section 35(2) of the Contributions and Benefits Act) which begins before the relevant date but ends on or after that date, or

(b) the amount of a carer’s allowance payable to a qualifying person at any time on or after the relevant date but before the appropriate date.

(3) In subsection (2)(b)—

“a qualifying person” means a person who—

(a)

has, before the relevant date, made a claim for an increase in a carer’s allowance under section 90 of the Contributions and Benefits Act; and

(b)

immediately before that date is either entitled to the increase claimed or a beneficiary to whom section 92 of the Contributions and Benefits Act applies in respect of that increase (continuation of awards where fluctuating earnings);

“the appropriate date” means whichever is the earlier of—

(a)

6 April 2020; and

(b)

the date when the qualifying person ceases to be either entitled to that increase or a beneficiary to whom section 92 of the Contributions and Benefits Act applies in respect of that increase.