The Principal Act is amended -

(a) in section 178(1) by inserting "and section 178A" after "section", and

(b) by inserting the following section after section 178:

"178A. Relevant payments - conditions for receipt.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Part V of the Act of 1996 -

(a) deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993 shall be payable to a woman who, in the case of a claim made on or after 31 August 1992 but before 2 January 1997, does not have an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of a prescribed amount, in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent period as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate,

(b) in the case of a woman who immediately before the commencement of section 19 of the Act of 1996 was in receipt of deserted wife's benefit under Chapter 18 of Part II of the Act of 1993, regulations may provide for the continued payment of deserted wife's benefit where -

(i) subject to paragraph (c), the woman has an aggregate of reckonable income, reckonable earnings and reckonable emoluments in excess of an amount prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) in the last complete income tax year or in such subsequent tax year as a deciding officer or an appeals officer may consider appropriate, or