The Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Cases where the minimum age is 16

8.—(1) For the basic condition in Article 9(1)(a) of the Order (at least 18 years old) the minimum age is 16 years old where a person—

(a) has limited capability for work,

(b) is awaiting an assessment under Part 5 to determine whether the person has limited capability for work and has a statement given by a registered medical practitioner in accordance with the Medical Evidence Regulations which provides that the person is not fit for work,

(c) has regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person,

(d) is responsible for a child,

(e) is a member of a couple the other member of which is responsible for a child or a qualifying young person (but only where the other member meets the basic conditions in Article 9 of the Order),

(f) is pregnant, and it is 11 weeks or less before her expected week of confinement, or was pregnant and it is 15 weeks or less since the date of her confinement, or

(g) is without parental support (see paragraph (3)).

(2) Paragraphs (1)(c), (f) and (g) do not include any person who is a care leaver.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g) a young person is without parental support where that person is not being looked after by an authority and—

(a) has no parent,

(b) cannot live with their parents because—

(i) the person is estranged from them, or

(ii) there is a serious risk to the person’s physical or mental health, or that the person would suffer significant harm if the person lived with them, or

(c) is living away from their parents, and neither parent is able to support the person financially because that parent—

(i) has a physical or mental impairment,

(ii) is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court, or

(iii) is prohibited from entering or re-entering Northern Ireland.

(4) In this regulation—

“parent” includes any person acting in the place of a parent;

“care leaver” means an eligible child for the purposes of Article 34A of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(1) or a relevant child for the purposes of Article 34B of that Order;

“confinement” means—

(a)

labour resulting in the birth of a living child, or

(b)

labour after 24 weeks of pregnancy resulting in the birth of a child whether alive or dead,

and where a woman’s labour begun on one day results in the birth of a child on another day she is to be taken to be confined on the date of the birth.

(1)

Articles 34A and 34B were inserted by sections 1 and 2 of the Children (Leaving Care) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 (c. 11 (N.I.)).