The Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Prospective

PART IV N.I. Membership of a family

Persons of prescribed description N.I.

17.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a person of a prescribed description for the purposes of section 133(1) of the Act as it applies to housing benefit (definition of family(1)) is a person who falls within the definition of qualifying young person in section 138 of the Act(2) (child and qualifying young person), and in these Regulations such a person is referred to as a “young person”.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person who is—

(a) on income support or an income-based jobseeker’s allowance; or

(b) a person to whom section 6 of the Children (Leaving Care) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002(3) (exclusion from benefits) applies.

(3) A person of a prescribed description for the purposes of section 133(1) of the Act as it applies to housing benefit (definition of family) includes a child or young person in respect of whom section 141A of that Act(4) applies for the purposes of entitlement to child benefit but only for the period prescribed under section 141A(1) of that Act.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 17 in operation at 20.11.2006, see reg. 1(1)

Circumstances in which a person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for another N.I.

18.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a person shall be treated as responsible for a child or young person who is normally living with him and this includes a child or young person to whom regulation 17(3) applies.

(2) Where a child or young person spends equal amounts of time in different households, or where there is a question as to which household he is living in, the child or young person shall be treated for the purposes of paragraph (1) as normally living with—

(a) the person who is receiving child benefit in respect of him; or

(b) if there is no such person—

(i) where only one claim for child benefit has been made in respect of him, the person who made that claim, or

(ii) in any other case the person who has the primary responsibility for him.

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations a child or young person shall be the responsibility of only one person in any benefit week and any person other than the one treated as responsible for the child or young person under this regulation shall be treated as not so responsible.

Commencement Information

I2 Reg. 18 in operation at 20.11.2006, see reg. 1(1)

Circumstances in which a person is to be treated as being or not being a member of the household N.I.

19.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4), the claimant and any partner and, where the claimant or his partner is treated as responsible by virtue of regulation 18 for a child or young person, that child or young person and any child of that child or young person, shall be treated as members of the same household notwithstanding that any of them is temporarily living away from the other members of his family.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person who is living away from the other members of his family where—

(a) that person does not intend to resume living with the other members of his family; or

(b) his absence from the other members of his family is likely to exceed 52 weeks, unless there are exceptional circumstances (for example where the person is in hospital or otherwise has no control over the length of his absence) and the absence is unlikely to be substantially more than 52 weeks.

(3) A child or young person shall not be treated as a member of the claimant’s household where he is—

(a) placed with the claimant or his partner by an authority, as defined in Article 2 of the Children Order, under Article 27(2)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation and maintenance by an authority for children whom it is looking after) or by a voluntary organisation under Article 75(1)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation by voluntary organisation);

(b) placed with the claimant or his partner prior to adoption; or

(c) placed for adoption with the claimant or his partner pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(5).

(4) Subject to paragraph (5), paragraph (1) shall not apply to a child or young person who is not living with the claimant and he—

(a) is being looked after by an authority, as defined in Article 2 of the Children Order, under a relevant enactment;

(b) has been placed with a person other than the claimant prior to adoption; or

(c) has been placed for adoption pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989.

(5) An authority shall treat a child or young person to whom paragraph (4)(a) applies, as being a member of the claimant’s household in any benefit week where—

(a) that child or young person lives with the claimant for part or all of that benefit week; and

(b) the authority considers that it is reasonable to do so taking into account the nature and frequency of that child’s or young person’s visits.

(6) In this regulation “relevant enactment” means the Army Act 1955(6), the Air Force Act 1955(7), the Naval Discipline Act 1957(8),the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968(9), the Health and Personal Social Services Order, the Family Law Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1977(10), the Matrimonial Causes (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(11), the Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980(12), the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987(13) and the Children Order.

Commencement Information

I3 Reg. 19 in operation at 20.11.2006, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

The definition of “family” was amended by paragraph 99(2) of Schedule 24 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33)

(2)

Section 138 was substituted by section 2(2) of the Child Benefit Act 2005 (c. 6); see also regulation 2 of S.I. 2006/223

(3)

2002 c. 11 (N.I.)

(4)

Section 141A was inserted by section 55 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 (c. 21) and amended by paragraph 101 of Schedule 24 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and paragraph 38 of Schedule 1 to the Child Benefit Act 2005

(5)

S.R. 1989 No. 253

(6)

1955 c. 18

(7)

1955 c. 19

(8)

1957 c. 53

(9)

1968 c. 34 (N.I.)

(10)

S.I. 1977/1250 (N.I. 17)

(11)

S.I. 1978/1045 (N.I. 15)

(12)

S.I. 1980/563 (N.I. 5)

(13)

S.I. 1987/2203 (N.I. 22)