Amendment of the Disability Living Allowance Regulations
3.—(1) The Disability Living Allowance Regulations are amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) For regulation 9() (persons in certain accommodation other than hospitals) substitute—
“Persons in care homes
9.—(1) Except in the cases specified in paragraphs (3) to (5), and subject to regulation 10, a person shall not be paid any amount in respect of a disability living allowance which is attributable to entitlement to the care component for any period where throughout that period he is a resident in a care home in circumstances where any of the costs of any qualifying services provided for him are borne out of public or local funds under a specified enactment.
(2) The specified enactments for the purposes of paragraph (1) are—
(a)Article 5, 15 or 36 of the Order;
(b)the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986; or
(c)any other enactment relating to persons under disability or to young persons or to education or training.
(3) Paragraph (2)(c) shall not apply in circumstances where any of the costs of the qualifying services provided for him are borne wholly or partly out of public or local funds by virtue of—
(a)Articles 50 and 51 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986();
(b)Article 3 of the Education (Student Loans) (Northern Ireland) Order 1990();
(c)Article 30 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1993(); or
(d)Article 3 of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998().
(4) Subject to paragraph (5), paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply in the case of a child who—
(a)has not attained the age of 16 and is in the care of a Health and Social Services Board or an HSS trust; or
(b)has not attained the age of 18 and to whom—
(i)Article 17(b) of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995() (impairment of health and development) applies because his health is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision of services for him, or
(ii)Article 17(c) of that Order (disability) applies; or
(c)who is accommodated outside the United Kingdom and the costs of any qualifying services are borne wholly or partly by an education and library board pursuant to its powers under Article 11 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996().
(5) Sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (4) shall only apply during any period which the Health and Social Services Board or HSS trust, in whose care the child is, place him in a private dwelling with a family, or a relative of his, or some other suitable person.
(6) In this regulation, and in regulation 10, references to the costs of any qualifying services shall not include the cost of—
(a)domiciliary services, including personal care, provided in respect of a person in a private dwelling; or
(b)improvements made to, or furniture or equipment provided for, a private dwelling on account of the needs of a person under disability; or
(c)improvements made to, or furniture or equipment provided for, a care home in respect of which a grant or payment has been made out of public or local funds except where the grant or payment is of a regular or repeated nature; or
(d)social and recreational activities provided outside the care home in respect of which grants or payments are made out of public or local funds; or
(e)the purchase or running of a motor vehicle to be used in connection with any qualifying service provided in a care home in respect of which grants or payments are made out of public or local funds; or
(f)health services provided pursuant to the Order.
(7) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a period during which a person is a resident in a care home in the circumstances set out in that paragraph shall, subject to paragraphs (8) and (9), be deemed—
(a)to begin on the day after the day on which he enters a care home; and
(b)to end on the day before the day on which he leaves a care home.
(8) Where a person enters a care home from a hospital or similar institution in circumstances in which regulation 6(1) applies, the period during which he is a resident in the care home shall be deemed to begin on the day he enters that care home.
(9) Where a person leaves a care home and enters a hospital or similar institution in circumstances in which regulation 6(1) applies, the period during which he is a resident in the care home shall be deemed to end on the day he leaves that care home.”.
(3) In regulation 10 (exemption from regulations 8 and 9) for paragraph (8)() substitute—
“(8) Regulation 9 shall not apply in any particular case for any period during which the whole costs of all of the qualifying services are met—
(a)out of the resources of the person for whom the qualifying services are provided, or partly out of his own resources and partly with the assistance from another person or a charity; or
(b)on his behalf by another person or a charity.”.