The Housing Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 and shall come into operation on 2nd July 2001.

(2) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000;

“the Administration Act” means the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

“appeal” means an appeal to an appeal tribunal;

“appropriate relevant authority” has the meaning it has in paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to the Act;

“benefit week” means a period of seven consecutive days commencing on a Monday and ending on a Sunday;

“claimant” means a person claiming housing benefit;

“clerk to the appeal tribunal” means a clerk assigned to an appeal tribunal in accordance with regulation 37 of the Decisions and Appeals Regulations 1999;

“Decisions and Appeals Regulations 1999” means the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(1);

“designated authority” has the meaning it has in regulation 1(2) of the Work-focused Interviews Regulations;

“financially qualified panel member” means a panel member who is an accountant and a member of—

(a)

the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;

(b)

the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland;

(c)

the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland;

(d)

the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants;

(e)

the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, or

(f)

the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy;

“Housing Benefit Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(2);

“legally qualified panel member” means a panel member who is a barrister or solicitor;

“official error” means an error made by—

(a)

a relevant authority or a person—

(i)

authorised to carry out any function of a relevant authority relating to housing benefit, or

(ii)

providing services relating to housing benefit directly or indirectly to a relevant authority;

(b)

an officer of—

(i)

the Department;

(ii)

the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, or

(iii)

the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment, acting as such;

(c)

a person employed by a designated authority acting on behalf of the authority,

but excludes any error caused wholly or partly by any person or body not specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) and any error of law which is shown to have been an error only by virtue of a subsequent decision of a Commissioner (construed in accordance with paragraph 23(1) of Schedule 7 to the Act) or the court;

“panel member” means a person appointed to a panel constituted under Article 7 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998;

“partner” means—

(a)

where a claimant is a member of a married or unmarried couple, the other member of that couple, or

(b)

where a claimant is polygamously married to two or more members of his household, any such member;

“person affected” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 3;

“President” means the President of appeal tribunals appointed under Article 6 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998;

“principal parties” has the same meaning as in paragraph 7(4) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

“relevant authority” has the same meaning as in paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

“relevant decision” has the same meaning as in paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

“work-focused interview” has the same meaning as in regulation 2 of the Work-focused Interviews Regulations;

“the Work-focused Interviews Regulations” means the Social Security (Work-focused Interviews) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(3).

(3) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(4) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

(1)

S.R. 1999 No. 162

(2)

S.R. 1987 No. 461; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1988 No. 117, S.R. 1990 No. 137, S.R. 1991 Nos. 47 and 176, S.R. 1992 Nos. 141, 201 and 404, S.R. 1993 No. 233, S.R. 1994 Nos. 88 and 335, S.R. 1995 No. 367, S.R. 1996 Nos. 181, 334, and 448, S.R. 1997 Nos. 22 and 452, S.R. 1999 No. 416 and S.R. 2001 No. 176

(3)

S.R. 2001 No. 176

(4)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)