The Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 22 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions) Order 2015

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order brings into force provisions of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (c. 5) (“the Act”) that relate to universal credit (“UC”) and the abolition of income-related employment and support allowance and income-based jobseeker's allowance, in relation to the cases set out in articles 3 and 4.

Article 2 defines the gateway conditions, which are the requirements to be met to make a claim for UC. They are set out in Schedule 5 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 9 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions and Commencement No. 8 and Savings and Transitional Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/983 (C. 41) (“the No. 9 Order”)) and have effect apart from the amendments made by article 4(5)(b) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 19 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/32 (C.3)) (“the 2015 Amendment Order”). The 2015 Amendment Order removed the condition that a claimant must not, for the majority of cases, have responsibility for children or young persons. By article 2(2)(a), this Order applies that condition for claims made with respect to the areas to which this Order applies.

The gateway conditions are also modified by article 2(2)(b) and (4) to require that a claimant must be single (“the modified gateway conditions”).

Article 2(2)(c) has the effect that the same amendment is made to the modified gateway conditions as is made by the amendment to the gateway conditions in Schedule 5 by article 5(a)(i) of the 2015 Amendment Order. The amendment increases the maximum earnings threshold in the modified gateway conditions and takes effect, as does the amendment under the 2015 Amendment Order, on or after 6th April 2015 for claims made or treated as made on or after that date.

Article 3 brings into force provisions relating to UC in Part 1 of the Act (“the UC provisions”), as set out in Schedule 2 to the No. 9 Order, in relation to a number of different cases as set out below.

Under article 3(2)(a) to (u), the UC provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claim is made on or after a specified date with respect to a period that begins on or after that date and, on the date on which the claim is made, the claimant resides in a specified area and complies with the modified gateway conditions as set out in Schedule 5 to the No. 9 Order. The specified dates and areas are as follows–

(a)

16th February 2015: the No. 29 relevant districts;

(b)

23rd February 2015: the No. 30 relevant districts;

(c)

2nd March 2015: the No. 31 relevant districts;

(d)

9th March 2015: the No. 32 relevant districts;

(e)

16th March 2015: the No. 33 relevant districts;

(f)

23rd March 2015: the No. 34 relevant districts;

(g)

13th April 2015: the No. 35 relevant districts;

(h)

20th April 2015: the No. 36 relevant districts;

(i)

27th April 2015: the No. 37 relevant districts;

(j)

4th May 2015: the No. 38 relevant districts;

(k)

11th May 2015: the No. 39 relevant districts;

(l)

18th May 2015: the No. 40 relevant districts;

(m)

25th May 2015: the No. 41 relevant districts;

(n)

1st June 2015: the No. 42 relevant districts;

(o)

8th June 2015: the No. 43 relevant districts;

(p)

15th June 2015: the No. 44 relevant districts;

(q)

22nd June 2015: the No. 45 relevant districts;

(r)

29th June 2015: the No. 46 relevant districts;

(s)

6th July 2015: the No. 47 relevant districts;

(t)

13th July 2015: the No. 48 relevant districts;

(u)

20th July 2015: the No. 49 relevant districts.

The postcodes and part-postcodes in each of the numbered relevant districts are set out in the table contained in the document entitled Index to Relevant Districts, issued by the Department for Work and Pensions on the date of making of this Order. The postcodes and part-postcodes are set out in the first column of the table and cross-refer to the relevant number in the third column. The document is available alongside this Order in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament and may also be obtained free of charge from the UC Policy Division of the Department for Work and Pensions, Level 3E, Caxton House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA, in hard copy, or from the Gov.UK website, in soft copy, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-national-expansion.

Under article 3(2)(v), the UC provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC and any award that is made in respect of the claim where the claimant claims UC on or after the date specified in any of sub-paragraphs (a) to (u) of article 3(2), in respect of a period that begins on or after that date, and provides incorrect information regarding the claimant residing in the area specified in that sub-paragraph or meeting the modified gateway conditions, but this is only discovered once payments of UC have been made.

Under article 3(3), the day appointed for the commencement of the UC provisions in the above cases is the first day of the period in respect of which the claim is made.

Paragraphs (4) and (5) of article 3 apply the provisions of article 3(6) (period for which a claim for universal credit is made) and article 3A (incorrect information regarding entitlement to claim universal credit) of the No. 9 Order respectively to the cases in article 3(2) of this Order.

Article 4 brings into force provisions of the Act relating to the abolition of income-related employment and support allowance and of income-based jobseeker's allowance (“the amending provisions”), in relation to a number of different cases as referred to below.

Under article 4(1) and sub-paragraphs (a), (c), (e), (g), (i), (k), (m), (o), (q), (s), (u), (w), (y), (aa), (cc), (ee), (gg), (ii), (kk), (mm) and (oo) of paragraph (2), the amending provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claim is made on or after the date specified in any of those sub-paragraphs with respect to a period that begins on or after that date and, on the date on which the claim is made, the claimant resides in the area specified in that sub-paragraph and complies with the modified gateway conditions. (The specified dates and areas are the same as those listed above in connection with the coming into force of the UC provisions).

Under article 4(1) and (2)(qq), the amending provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where a claimant claims UC on or after the date specified in relation to a claim for UC within one of the sub-paragraphs of article 4(2) referred to in the previous paragraph in respect of a period that begins on or after that date and provides incorrect information regarding the claimant residing in the area specified in that sub-paragraph or meeting the modified gateway conditions, but this is only discovered once payments of UC have been made.

Under article 4(1) and sub-paragraphs (b), (d), (f), (h), (j), (l), (n), (p), (r), (t), (v), (x), (z), (bb), (dd), (ff), (hh), (jj), (ll) (nn) and (pp) of paragraph (2) (“the relevant ESA and JSA claiming provisions”), the amending provisions come into force in relation to a claim for ESA or JSA, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claim is made on or after the date specified in any of those sub-paragraphs and, on the date on which the claim is made, the claimant resides in the area specified in that sub-paragraph and complies with the modified gateway conditions. (Again, the specified dates and areas are the same as those listed above in connection with the coming into force of the UC provisions).

Under article 4(1) and (2)(rr), the amending provisions come into force in relation to the case of a claim for ESA or JSA where the claim is not a claim for ESA or JSA as referred to in the relevant ESA and JSA claiming provisions and where the claim is made during the “relevant period” (mainly the period when a claim for UC is being considered or an award of UC is extant).

Under article 4(3), the day appointed for the coming into force of the amending provisions in the above cases is the first day of the period in respect of which the claim is made.

Paragraphs (6) to (8) of article 4 (conversion of awards of incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance, old-style ESA and JSA awards) apply the provisions of article 4(6), (7), (9) and (10), and article 5(1)(a) (interpretation of Schedule 5 to the No. 9 Order) and (8) (the period for which a claim for ESA, JSA or UC is made) of the No. 9 Order to the cases in article 4(2).

Article 5 provides that articles 9 to 22 of the No. 9 Order (transitional provisions) apply in connection with the coming into force of the amending provisions in relation to the case of a claim referred to in article 4(2), and any award made in respect of the claim, as they apply in connection with the coming into force of the amending provisions in relation to the case of a claim referred to in article 4(2)(a), (b) or (g) of the No. 9 Order, and any award made in respect of the claim.

Article 6, with effect from 16th February 2015, modifies the Universal Credit (Digital Service) Amendment Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/2887) so as those Regulations have effect as if they do not apply to the case of an award of UC made by virtue of this Order (unless one of the exceptions in regulation 5 of those Regulations applies).

Article 7 renumbers as (9) and (10) the paragraphs of article 4 of the No. 9 Order previously added as (8) and (9) by article 4(3) of the 2015 Amendment Order and makes consequential provisions. This corrects a drafting error, as paragraph (8) had already been added to article 4 of the No. 9 Order by article 7(2)(c)(ii) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 20 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions and Commencement No. 9 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/3094 (C. 133)).