Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992

Severe disablement allowance

4 (1) In the case of an assessment of any person’s disablement for the purposes of section 68 above, the period to be taken into account for any such assessment shall be the period during which that person has suffered and may be expected to continue to suffer from the relevant loss of faculty beginning not later than—

(a) the first claim day if his entitlement to benefit falls to be determined in accordance with section 68(3)(b) above as modified by regulations under section 68(11)(b);

(b) where his disablement has previously been assessed for the purposes of section 68 above at a percentage which is not less than 80 per cent.—

(i) if the period taken into account for that assessment was or included the period of 196 days ending immediately before the first claim day, the first claim day, or

(ii) if the period so taken into account included any day falling within that period of 196 days, the day immediately following that day or, if there is more than one such day, the last such day;

(c) in any other case, 196 days before the first claim day;

and, in any case, ending not later than the day on which that person attains the age of 65, if a woman, or 70, if a man.

(2) In this paragraph “the first claim day” means the first day in respect of which the person concerned has made the claim in question for a severe disablement allowance.

5 (1) An assessment of any person’s disablement for the purposes of section 68 above shall state the degree of disablement in the form of a percentage and shall specify the period taken into account by the assessment.

(2) For the purposes of any such assessment—

(a) a percentage which is not a whole number shall be rounded to the nearest whole number or if it falls equally near two whole numbers shall be rounded up to the higher; and

(b) a percentage between 5 and 100 which is not a multiple of 10 shall be treated, if it is a multiple of 5, as being the next higher percentage which is a multiple of 10 and, in any other case, as being the nearest percentage which is a multiple of 10.

(3) If on the assessment the person’s disablement is found to be less than 5 per cent. that degree of disablement shall for the purposes of section 68 above be disregarded and, accordingly, the assessment shall state that he is not disabled.