23.— Section 178A (inserted by section 10 of the Social Welfare Act 2005) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after subsection (3):

“(4) Regulations may, subject to the conditions and in the circumstances and for the periods that may be prescribed, entitle to a payment a woman who ceases to be entitled to deserted wife’s benefit by virtue of having earnings in excess of the amount prescribed for the purposes of subsection (1)(a).

(5) Regulations under subsection (4) shall provide that a payment payable by virtue of those regulations shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in column (2) of Part 1 of Schedule 2 and the rate specified by regulations may vary by reference to the yearly average calculated in accordance with subsection (2)(b)(ii).”.