The Principal Act is amended -

(a) in section 40(3), by inserting the following after paragraph (e):

"(ea) notwithstanding paragraph (d), in the case of a person who, on or after 1 May 2007, has been in receipt of illness benefit for not less than 624 days in respect of a period of incapacity for work and who, within the same period of interruption of employment, has subsequent periods of incapacity for work, any 2 such subsequent periods of incapacity for work within that period of interruption of employment not separated by a period of more than 26 weeks shall be treated as one period of incapacity for work,",

(b) in section 41:

(i) by inserting the following after subsection (1)(c)(i):

"(ia) prescribed weekly earnings, in the case of a person who immediately before the week of incapacity for which illness benefit was claimed:

(I) was in receipt of carer's benefit or carer's allowance, and

(II) was in receipt of illness benefit immediately before receiving a payment referred to in subparagraph (I),

or",

and

(ii) in subsection (12), by inserting "made before 1 July in any year" before "where",

and