7.—(1) Benefit shall be paid or provided for out of the Social Insurance Fund.

[2000 s29(a)]

(2) A reference to benefit in section 6 and this section includes:

(a) the benefits described in section 39,

(b) a relevant payment within the meaning of section 178(1)(a),

(c) schemes administered by the Minister and known as—

(i) Free Fuel Allowance,

(ii) Free Electricity Allowance,

(iii) Free Television Licence,

(iv) Free Telephone Rental Allowance,

(v) Free Natural Gas Allowance, and

(vi) Free Bottled Gas Allowance,

where those allowances are payable in respect of a person in receipt of a benefit under section 39(1) or a relevant payment within the meaning of section 178(1)(a),

[2002 (MP) s13]

(d) a payment under regulations made under section 138 in respect of dental treatment or optical treatment and appliances which would have been payable in respect of a person but for the fact that the person availed of a service in respect of dental treatment or optical treatment and appliances under sections 45 F95[, 45A] and 67 of the Health Act 1970,

(e) any benefit to which section 39(1) refers which would have been payable in respect of a person but for the receipt by that person of F96[State pension (non-contributory)],

(f) any increase in any benefit to which section 39(1) refers which would have been payable in respect of a person, but for the receipt by that person of an F96[State pension (non-contributory)] in his or her own right, and

(g) F97[jobseeker’s benefit, jobseeker’s benefit (self-employed) or jobseeker’s pay-related benefit, any of which would] have been payable in respect of a person but for the receipt by that person of F98[jobseeker’s allowance].

[2000 s29(a)]

(3) Benefit to be paid or provided for out of the Social Insurance Fund shall include such sums as the Minister may estimate on the basis that may be agreed on between the Minister and the Minister for Finance in respect of the benefits set out in subsection (2)(c), (d), (e), (f) and (g).

[2000 s29(a)]

(4) There shall be paid out of the Social Insurance Fund—

(a) to the Minister for Health and Children the sum agreed between the Minister and the Minister for Finance in respect of the benefit set out in subsection (2)(d), and

(b) to the Exchequer in respect of the sums agreed between the Minister and the Minister for Finance in respect of the benefits set out in subsection (2)(c), (e), (f) and (g),

in the manner and at the times the Minister may determine.

F99[(5) Benefit to be paid or provided for out of the Social Insurance Fund shall include such sums as the Minister may estimate on the basis that may be agreed between the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of the payments, commonly known as the pandemic unemployment payments, made under section 202 on and after 13 March 2020 to the relevant date to address the adverse economic effects of the spread of the disease known as Covid-19 and such payments shall be treated as having been paid under—

(a) Chapter 12 of Part 2, insofar as those payments relate to persons to whom that Chapter applies,

(b) Chapter 12A of Part 2, insofar as those payments relate to self-employed contributors to whom that Chapter applies, or

(c) Chapter 2 of Part 3, insofar as those payments relate to persons to whom that Chapter applies.

(6) In subsection (5), ‘relevant date’ means the date on which Chapter 12B (inserted by section 11 of the Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Act 2020) comes into operation.]