Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 178A

Relevant payments - conditions for receipt

Section 178A sets out the contribution conditions and payment rules for deserted wife's benefit, including transitional arrangements for women who were already receiving the benefit before changes introduced by the Social Welfare Act 1996.

• Women who claimed between 31 August 1992 and 2 January 1997 must not have had reckonable income, earnings and emoluments exceeding a prescribed threshold in the relevant tax year.
• Women already receiving deserted wife's benefit before the 1996 Act commenced may continue to receive it at a reduced rate, even if they exceed income thresholds or do not fully meet contribution conditions.
• The contribution conditions require the husband to have at least 156 qualifying contribution weeks and to meet specified yearly average requirements; if the husband's record is insufficient, the woman's own record may be used instead.
• Additional weekly amounts are payable for qualified children, beneficiaries who have reached pensionable age and live alone, those aged 80 or over, and those ordinarily resident on an island.