The Council Tax (Discount Disregards) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1996

Statutory Instruments

1996 No. 3143

COUNCIL TAX, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Council Tax (Discount Disregards) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1996

Made

12th December 1996

Laid before Parliament

18th December 1996

Coming into force

8th January 1997

The Secretary of State for the Environment as respects England and the Secretary of State for Wales as respects Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 113 of, and paragraphs 2 and 4 of Schedule 1 to, the Local Government Finance Act 1992(1) hereby make the following Order:

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1996 and shall come into force on 8th January 1997.

The severely mentally impaired

2.—(1) Article 3 (the severely mentally impaired) of the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992(2) is amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (1), for the words `paragraph (3) below' there is substituted `paragraph (3) or (4) below'.

(3) At the end there is added—

“(4) The requirements of this paragraph are that—

(a) the person in question is a person whose partner is in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance, and

(b) by virtue of that person’s incapacity for work the applicable amount for the purposes of regulation 83 or 84 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996(3) includes a premium which falls to be determined under paragraph (d) or (g) of paragraph 14(1) of Schedule 1 to those Regulations.”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Paul Beresford

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department of the Environment

12th December 1996

Gwilym Jones

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Welsh Office

12th December 1996

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

The amount of council tax payable under Part I of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 is reduced where a person resident in a dwelling falls to be disregarded for the purposes of discount. Schedule 1 to the Act provides for classes of persons to qualify for the purposes of discount, and the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992 makes further provision in relation to certain of those classes.

This order amends article 3 of the 1992 Order, which deals with the severely mentally impaired, so that a person who is the partner of a jobseeker whose jobseeker’s allowance (under the Jobseekers Act 1995) is increased on grounds of that person’s incapacity for work may qualify for the purposes of the discount.

(1)

1992 c. 14.

(2)

S.I. 1992/548, amended by S.I. 1994/543, S.I. 1995/619 and S.I. 1996/636.

(3)

S.I. 1996/207.