Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Northern Ireland Old Cases) Act 1975
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1975 c. 17 |
Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Northern Ireland Old Cases) Act 1975
1975 CHAPTER 17
An Act to consolidate the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Measures (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1974 and related enactments.
[20th March 1975]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Continuation of workmen's compensation in certain cases.
1. The Workmen's Compensation Acts and any other enactment repealed by section 88 of the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1946shall continue to apply to any cases to which, if the Supplementation Act had not been passed, they would have applied by virtue of the said section 88, being certain cases where a right to compensation arises or has arisen in respect of employment before 5th July 1948.
2 Regulations to provide for supplementing workmen's compensation.
(1) The Department may, with the consent of the Department of Finance, make regulations (in this Act referred to as ‘the regulations’) conferring a right to allowances payable out of the National Insurance Fund on persons who are, or have at any time after 23rd July 1951 been, entitled to weekly payments by way of workmen's compensation, other than a person whose entitlement to such payments—
(a ) arose in consequence of an accident happening after 31st December 1923; and
(b ) ceased before 24th July 1956.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the right to such an allowance as aforesaid or to a payment on account thereof shall be subject to such conditions, and the rate of the allowance shall be such, as may be provided by the regulations.
(3) The allowances for the payment of which the regulations may make provision shall be—
(a ) where the relevant accident happened before 1st January 1924, an allowance (in this section referred to as a ‘basic allowance’) in respect of any period such as is mentioned in subsection (7) below;
(b ) an allowance in respect of any period such as is mentioned in subsection (7)(a ) (in this section referred to as a ‘major incapacity allowance’);
(c ) subject to subsections (4) and (5) below, an allowance in respect of any period such as is mentioned in subsection (7)(b ) (in this section referred to as a ‘lesser incapacity allowance’);
and a major incapacity allowance or lesser incapacity allowance in respect of any period shall be payable whether or not a basic allowance is also payable in respect of that period.
(4) A lesser incapacity allowance—
(a ) shall not be payable to any person in respect of any period unless there is or may be expected to be (or, but for the cesser at a time after 28th February 1966 of that person's entitlement to workmen's compensation, would or might be expected to have been) payable to that person in respect of that period either a weekly payment by way of basic allowance or a weekly payment by way of workmen's compensation which is not a notional payment;
(b ) except to a person who, immediately before 1st March 1966, was receiving an allowance under a scheme made under the Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Act (Northern Ireland) 1951 , shall not be payable if the relevant accident happened after 31st December 1923 and the claimant's entitlement to workmen's compensation in consequence thereof ceased before 1st March 1966.
(5) For the purposes of a lesser incapacity allowance, a weekly payment by way of workmen's compensation shall be treated as a notional payment if awarded or paid for the purpose of safeguarding a potential entitlement to compensation and not related to any existing loss of earnings; and the regulations may provide that—
(a ) in such circumstances or cases as may be specified in the regulations; and
(b ) in particular, in cases where weekly payments by way of such compensation are being paid to a person to whom such payments were not made, or were made at a lower rate, during the period of 12 months immediately preceding such date not earlier than 30th November 1965 as may be specified in the regulations,
a weekly payment by way of such compensation shall be deemed to be a notional payment unless the contrary is proved.
(6) The weekly rate—
(a ) of a basic allowance shall not exceed 2 less the amount of the recipient's workmen's compensation and, in respect of a period such as is mentioned in subsection (7)(b ) below which is a period of partial incapacity only, shall also not exceed the difference between two-thirds of the amount representing his weekly loss of earnings determined in accordance with the regulations and the amount of his workmen's compensation;
(b ) of a major incapacity allowance shall be the corresponding disablement pension rate less the amount of the recipient's workmen's compensation and less the amount of his basic allowance, if any;
(c ) of a lesser incapacity allowance shall not exceed 7.00.
(7) The periods referred to in the foregoing provisions of this section are—
(a ) any period during which the person claiming or receiving an allowance under this section—
(i) being or having been entitled to his workmen's compensation in respect of any injury or disease, is as a result of that injury or disease totally incapable of work and likely to remain so incapable for a considerable period; or
(ii) being or having been entitled to his workmen's compensation in respect of two or more injuries or diseases, is as the joint result of those injuries or diseases totally incapable of work and likely to remain so incapable for a considerable period;
(b ) any period which, not being a period such as is mentioned in paragraph (a ), is a period of total or partial incapacity for work resulting from the relevant injury or disease.
3 Provisions supplementary to s. 2.
(1) For the purposes of section 2 of this Act—
(a ) the expressions ‘relevant accident’ and ‘relevant injury or disease’ mean the accident in consequence of which or, as the case may be, the injury or disease in respect of which, an entitlement to weekly payments by way of workmen's compensation arose;
(b ) any reference to the happening of an accident shall, in relation to a case of disease, be construed in the same way as for the purposes of the Workmen's Compensation Acts;
(c ) a payment—
shall be treated as a weekly payment by way of workmen's compensation.
(2) For the purposes of section 2(1), a person shall be deemed to be or have been entitled to weekly payments by way of workmen's compensation at any time if he would be or, as the case may be, have been so entitled at that time if—
(a ) the amount of any payment, allowance or benefit...
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