The Social Security (Income and Capital) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020

Amendment of the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

5.—(1) The Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(1) are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—

(a) in the appropriate places insert—

““Grenfell Tower payment” means a payment made to a person because that person was affected by the fire on 14th June 2017 at Grenfell Tower, or a payment to the personal representative of such a person—

(a)

from the £5 million fund announced on 16th June 2017 for the benefit of certain persons affected by the fire on 14th June 2017 at Grenfell Tower and known as the Grenfell Tower Residents’ Discretionary Fund;

(b)

by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; or

(c)

by a registered charity;”;

““the National Emergencies Trust” means the registered charity of that name (number 1182809) established on 28th March 2019;”;

(b) in the definition of “qualifying person”—

(i) after “means a person in respect of whom” insert “a Grenfell Tower payment has been made or”, and

(ii) after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”.

(3) In regulation 39 (notional income)—

(a) in paragraph (6), for “paragraph (7)” substitute “paragraph (7) or (7A)”;

(b) in paragraph (7)(a), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”;

(c) after paragraph (7), insert—

“(7A) Paragraph (6) shall not apply in respect of a payment of income which is a Grenfell Tower payment.”.

(4) In regulation 43(6) (income treated as capital)—

(a) for “other than a payment which” substitute “other than a Grenfell Tower payment or a payment which”;

(b) after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”.

(5) In regulation 46 (notional capital)—

(a) in paragraph (3), for “paragraph (4)” substitute “paragraph (4) or (4A)”;

(b) in paragraph (4)(a), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”;

(c) after paragraph (4), insert—

“(4A) Paragraph (3) shall not apply in respect of a payment of capital which is a Grenfell Tower payment.”.

(6) In regulation 50(1) (students: interpretation), after the definition of “periods of experience” insert—

““postgraduate loan” means a loan to a student undertaking a postgraduate master’s degree course or a postgraduate doctoral degree course pursuant to regulations made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998;”;

(7) In regulation 56(3) (calculation of grant income)—

(a) after “student loan” insert “ or a postgraduate loan”;

(b) for “such a loan” substitute “a student loan or a postgraduate loan.”.

(8) In regulation 61 (treatment of student loans)—

(a) at the end of the heading add “and post graduate loans”;

(b) in paragraph (1), after “a student loan” insert “and postgraduate loan”;

(c) in paragraph (3)—

(i) after “a student loan” in both places, insert “or a postgraduate loan”, and

(ii) in sub-paragraph (b), for “such a loan” substitute “a student loan or a postgraduate loan”.

(d) after paragraph (4) insert—

“(4A) Where a student is treated as possessing a postgraduate loan under paragraph (3) in respect of an academic year, the amount of that loan to be taken into account as income shall be, subject to paragraph (5), a sum equal to 30 per cent. of the maximum postgraduate loan the student is able to acquire in respect of that academic year by taking reasonable steps to do so.”.

(9) In regulation 65 (further disregard of student’s income), for “or student loan” substitute “, student loan or postgraduate loan”.

(10) In regulation 72(9) (non-dependant deductions)—

(a) in sub-paragraph (b), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”;

(b) after sub-paragraph (b), insert—

“(ba) any Grenfell Tower payment;”.

(11) In Schedule 6 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), in paragraph 37—

(a) in sub-paragraph (1), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”;

(b) after sub-paragraph (1), insert—

“(1A) Any Grenfell Tower payment.”;

(c) in each of sub-paragraphs (2) to (5), after “Trusts to which sub-paragraph (1) refers” insert “, or from a Grenfell Tower payment,”;

(d) in sub-paragraph (6), after “or deriving from any of the Trusts” insert “or from a Grenfell Tower payment”;

(e) in sub-paragraph (7), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”.

(12) In Schedule 7 (capital to be disregarded)—

(a) after paragraph 9, insert—

“9A.— (1) A payment made to rectify, or to compensate for, an error made by an officer of the Department which was not caused or materially contributed to by any person outside the Department and which prevented or delayed an assessment of the claimant’s entitlement to contributory employment and support allowance but, subject to sub-paragraph (2), only for a period of 52 weeks from the date of the receipt of the payment.

(2) In a case where the amount of such payment is £5,000 or more, sub-paragraph (1) shall have effect in relation to the payment either for a period of 52 weeks from the date of receipt, or, if the amount is received in its entirety during the award of housing benefit, for the remainder of that award if that is a longer period.

(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), “contributory employment and support allowance” means an allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act as amended by the provisions of Schedule 3, and Part 1 of Schedule 12, to the 2015 Order that remove references to an income-related allowance.

(4) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2), “the award of housing benefit” has the meaning in paragraph 9(3) of this Schedule except that “the relevant sum” means the payment to be disregarded by this paragraph.”;

(b) in paragraph 25—

(i) in sub-paragraph (1), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”,

(ii) after sub-paragraph (1), insert—

“(1A) Any Grenfell Tower payment or any payment made under the Child Migrants Trust (registered charity number 1171479).”,

(iii) in each of sub-paragraphs (2) to (5), after “Trusts to which sub-paragraph (1) refers” insert “, or from a Grenfell Tower payment,”,

(iv) in sub-paragraph (6), after “or deriving from any of the Trusts” insert “or from a Grenfell Tower payment”, and

(v) in sub-paragraph (7), after “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” insert “, the National Emergencies Trust”;

(c) in paragraph 35, after “Any payment in kind” insert “which is a Grenfell Tower payment or is”.

(1)

S.R. 2006 No. 405; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 2007 No. 298, S.R.2010 No.69, S.R. 2011 No. 357 and S.R. 2017 No. 205.