The Social Security (Housing Benefit, State Pension Credit and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (“the Housing Benefit Regulations”), the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999, the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (“the Income Support Regulations”), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987.

The Housing Benefit Regulations were modified by the Housing Benefit (State Pension Credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (“the 2003 Regulations”) for persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit (except where regulation 2(2) applies). These Regulations apply to the Housing Benefit Regulations as so modified and as not so modified, as set out in regulations 2(1), (2) and (3).

Regulation 2 amends the Housing Benefit Regulations.

• Paragraph (4) makes amendments to regulation 4 (as modified at paragraph (5B) and not so modified at paragraph (5)) omitting provisions which bring state pension credit within the scope of the remunerative work provisions, in consequence of the amendment made to regulation 63 by paragraph (14).

• Paragraph (5) extends the categories of persons who are to be treated as occupying a dwelling as their home to those cases where the claimant is on bail and as a condition of that bail is required to reside at an address other than the dwelling they occupy as their home.

• Paragraph (6) amends regulation 16(b) to exclude the capital of a child taken into account for the purposes of calculating a claimant’s applicable amount.

• Paragraph (7) amends regulation 17(c) to exclude the capital of a child taken into account for the purposes of calculating a claimant’s applicable amount where that claimant is a member of a polygamous marriage.

• Paragraph (8) makes amendments to regulation 19 to exclude the income and capital of a child or young person from the calculation of income and capital of members of the claimant’s family and of a polygamous marriage to be treated as income and capital of the claimant.

• Paragraph (9) amends regulation 23(4) (as modified) to remove child benefit, child tax credit, widowed mother’s allowance and widowed parent’s allowance from the income which may be taken into account by the relevant authority in modifying the calculation or estimate of net income provided by the Department.

• Paragraph (10) amends regulation 25 (as modified) to omit child tax credit from the meaning of income and to add child benefit to the list of benefits which are not within the meaning of income. This paragraph also adds to regulation 25 any payment made at regular intervals under an equity release scheme to the types of income which are prescribed for the purposes of section 132A(3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 and a definition paragraph for the term “equity release scheme”, which mirrors the definition inserted into the State Pension Credit Regulations by regulation 6(2).

• Paragraphs (11), (12), (17), (20) and (21) make amendments consequent upon those made by paragraphs (6), (7) and (8).

• Paragraph (13) amends regulation 42(2) (as modified) to substitute a provision which omits sub-paragraph (a) of that regulation (by means of which a person is regarded as having deprived himself of a capital resource which he possesses and disposes of by way of gift to a third party).

• Paragraph (14) amends regulation 63 to insert a new paragraph which provides that in calculating maximum housing benefit no deduction shall be made in respect of a non-dependant who is on state pension credit, in consequence of this amendment there is no longer a requirement to establish whether a person is in remunerative work for the purposes of deciding whether or not the non-dependant deduction should be taken into account to make this calculation.

• Paragraph (15) amends regulation 68(9) setting out a substituted circumstance (where there has been a change of circumstances in respect of a non-dependant) in which the effective date set out in regulation 68(10) applies, for claimants or their partners who have attained the age of 65.

• Paragraph (16) amends regulation 68B to provide that where a claimant or his partner is or has been awarded the savings credit only of state pension credit and there is a change of circumstances as described in paragraphs (2) to (5) of that regulation resulting from the Department’s calculation or estimate of income and capital for the purposes of an award of state pension credit and there is a change in the determination by the relevant authority of the claimant’s income and capital using that calculation or estimate in accordance with regulation 23(1) as modified in its application to persons to whom regulation 2(1) of the 2003 Regulations applies, each of which result in a change in the rate of housing benefit payable, the change in that determination shall take effect from the dates set out in paragraphs (2), (3), (4) or (5) as the case may be.

• Paragraph (18) amends sub-paragraph (1) of column (1) of paragraph (1) of Schedule 2A (as modified) to include lone parents in the category of persons to whom the applicable amount for single claimants applies.

• Paragraph (19) omits paragraph 14 of Schedule 3 to remove from the sums to be disregarded in the calculation of earnings, the disregarded amounts of the earnings of a child or young person who is engaged in remunerative work. This paragraph also makes an amendment to paragraph 13 of Schedule 3 which is consequent upon that made to paragraph 14 of that Schedule.

• Paragraph (22) amends paragraph 4(a) in Part I of Schedule 5ZA to clarify who must occupy the premises for the capital disregard in regulation 39(2) (as modified) to apply.

Regulation 3 amends the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999. The amendment made by this regulation mirrors that made by regulation 2(15)(b) of these Regulations.

Regulation 4 amends the Income Support Regulations. The amendments made by paragraph (a) of this regulation mirror that made by regulation 2(5) of these Regulations. Paragraph (b) amends paragraph 18 of Schedule 3 to the Income Support Regulations in consequence of the amendments made to the Housing Benefit Regulations in respect of non-dependant deductions by regulations 2(4) and (14) of these regulations.

Regulation 5 amends the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996. The amendments made to those Regulations mirror those made to the Income Support Regulations, except in so far as the amendment made by paragraph (a) of this regulation does not extend to those detained in custody on remand pending trial or detained pending sentence upon conviction, for the purposes of jobseeker’s allowance.

Regulation 6 amends the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003. Paragraph (2) amends regulation 1(2) inserting a definition of “equity release scheme” which is defined to mean a loan by means of which a sum of money is advanced by way of payments at regular intervals to the claimant and made against the security of a dwelling in which the claimant owns an estate or interest and occupies as his home. Paragraph (3) amends regulation 15(5) adding payments made at regular intervals under an equity release scheme to the descriptions of income which are prescribed for the purposes of section 15(1)(j) of the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002. Paragraph (4) amends regulation 16 by adding payments made at regular intervals under an equity release scheme to the descriptions of income listed as retirement pension income in section 16(1) of the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002. Paragraph (5) amends Schedule 2 to the Regulations mirroring those made to the Income Support Regulations by regulation 4 of these Regulations. Paragraph (6) amends paragraph 4(a) of Schedule 5 to the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 to clarify who must occupy the premises for the capital disregard in regulation 17(8)(a) of those Regulations to apply.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 4E of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 to allow a person, who wishes to make a claim for State Pension Credit, to inform an office, as prescribed, of his intention of claiming, himself or through a person acting on his behalf.

In so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulation 2 to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, (“the 1992 Act”), after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee, they have not been so referred by virtue of section 150(1)(b) of that Act. Otherwise they make, in relation to Northern Ireland only, provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the 1992 Act, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.

These Regulations do not impose any charge on business.