The State Pension Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

PART 2 Prisoners

Prisoners who are not to be paid state pension

2.—(1) Subject to regulation 3, a person is not to be paid a state pension under Part 1 of the Act (state pension) for any period during which the person is a prisoner who is mentioned in paragraph (2).

(2) Except where paragraph (3) applies, a person is a prisoner for the purposes of paragraph (1) where the person is—

(a) a prisoner in Northern Ireland or elsewhere who is imprisoned or detained in legal custody in connection with, or as a result of, criminal proceedings;

(b) a prisoner in Northern Ireland or elsewhere who is unlawfully at large;

(c) a prisoner in Northern Ireland who is being detained—

(i) under Article 53 of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (removal to hospital of persons serving sentences of imprisonment etc)(1); and

(ii) on or before the day which the Department of Justice certifies to be the person’s release date (if any) within the meaning given in Article 56(3) of that Order (2);

(3) Where a person outside Northern Ireland is a prisoner within paragraph (2)(a) or (b) and, in similar circumstances in Northern Ireland, the person would not have been a prisoner, the person is not a prisoner within paragraph (2)(a) or (b).

Paying state pension to persons who are remanded in custody

3.—(1) Where a person is remanded in custody for an offence, regulation 2(1) does not apply unless a sentence described in paragraph (2) is later imposed on the person for the offence.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the described sentences for the purposes of paragraph (1) are—

(a) a sentence of imprisonment or detention in legal custody as a result of criminal proceedings;

(b) a sentence of detention where the provisions mentioned in regulation 2(2)(c)(i) apply; and

(c) a suspended sentence within the meaning given in section 18 of the Treatment of Offenders Act (Northern Ireland) 1968(3) (suspended sentences of imprisonment).

(3) A sentence described in paragraph (2)(a) which is imposed outside Northern Ireland is not a described sentence for the purposes of paragraph (1) if, in similar circumstances in Northern Ireland, a sentence described in paragraph (2)(a) would not have been imposed.

(1)

S.I. 1986/595 (N.I. 4); Article 53 was amended by paragraph 27 of Schedule 5 to the Criminal Justice (Children) (Northern Ireland) Order (S.I. 1998/1504 (N.I. 9)) and paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 6 to the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 (c. 1 (N.I.))

(2)

Article 56(3) was substituted by section 296(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) and amended by paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 5 to the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/1216 (N.I. 1))

(3)

1968 c. 29 (N.I.); section 18 was amended by Article 9(1) of the Treatment of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/1344 (N.I. 15))