The Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Income Support (Amendments) Regulations 1995

Insertion of regulation 4C of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations

4.  After regulation 4B of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations(1) (circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home), there shall be inserted the following regulation—

“4C.— (1) This paragraph shall apply to a person who enters residential accommodation—

(a) for the purpose of ascertaining whether the accommodation suits his needs, and

(b) with the intention of returning to the dwelling which is normally occupied by him as his home should, in the event, the residential accommodation prove not to suit his needs, and

(c) while the part of the dwelling which is normally occupied by him as his home is not let, or as the case may be, sublet.

(2) A person to whom paragraph (1) applies shall be treated as if he is occupying the dwelling he normally occupies as his home for a period not exceeding, subject to an overall limit of 52 weeks on the absence from that home, 13 weeks beginning from the first day he enters a residential accommodation.

(3) Subject to paragraph (5), a person shall be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home while he is temporarily absent from that dwelling for a period not exceeding 13 weeks beginning from the first day of that absence from the home, if—

(a) he intends to return to occupy the dwelling as his home; and

(b) while the part of the dwelling normally occupied by him has not been let or, as the case may be, sublet; and

(c) the period of absence is unlikely to exceed 13 weeks.

(4) This paragraph shall apply to a person who is temporarily absent from the dwelling he normally occupies as his home (“absence”), if—

(a) he intends to return to occupy the dwelling as his home; and

(b) while the part of the dwelling which is normally occupied by him has not been let, or as the case may be, sublet; and

(c) he is—

(i) detained in custody on remand pending trial, or as a condition of bail, required to reside in a hostel approved under section 27(1) of the Probation Services Act 1993 (a), or, as the case may be, detained pending sentence upon conviction, or

(ii) resident in a hospital or similar institution as a patient, or

(iii) undergoing, or as the case may be, his partner or his dependent child is undergoing, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, medical treatment, or medically approved convalescence, in accommodation other than residential accommodation, or

(iv) following, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, a training course, or

(v) undertaking medically approved care of a person residing in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, or

(vi) undertaking the care of a child whose parent or guardian is temporarily absent from the dwelling normally occupied by that parent or guardian for the purpose of receiving medically approved care or medical treatment, or

(vii) a person who is, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, receiving medically approved care provided in accommodation other than residential accommodation, or

(viii) a student to whom paragraph (3) or (5)(b) of regulation 5 of, or regulation 48A(1) of, the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987(2) (circumstances in which certain students are treated as not liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling) does not apply, or

(ix) a person who is receiving care provided in residential accommodation other than a person to whom paragraph (1) applies, or

(x) a person who has left the dwelling he occupies as his home through fear of violence, in that dwelling, or by a person who was formerly a member of the family of the person first mentioned, and to whom paragraph (5)(a) or (7A) of regulation 5 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987(3) does not apply; and

(d) the period of his absence is unlikely to exceed 52 weeks or, in exceptional circumstances, is unlikely substantially to exceed that period.

(5) A person to whom paragraph (4) applies shall be treated as occupying the dwelling as his home during any period of absence not exceeding 52 weeks beginning from the first day of that absence.

(6) In this regulation—

“medically approved” means certified by a medical practitioner;

“patient” means a person who is undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in any hospital or similar institution;

“residential accommodation” means accommodation which is provided by an establishment—

(a)

under section 21 to 24 of the National Assistance Act 1948(4) (provision of accommodation) where—

(i)

board is available to the claimant, and

(ii)

the home in which the accommodation is provided is either owned or managed or owned and managed by a local authority, or

(b)

under section 59 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968(5) (provision of residential and other establishments) where—

(i)

board is available to the claimant, and

(ii)

the home in which the accommodation is provided is either owned or managed or owned and managed by a local authority; and

(c)

registered under Part I of the Registered Homes Act 1984(6);

(d)

run by the Abbeyfield Society including all bodies corporate or incorporate which are affiliated to that Society;

(e)

managed or provided by a body incorporated by Royal Charter or constituted by Act of Parliament other than a local social services authority;

(f)

in Scotland, which is a home registered under section 61 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968(7) or is an establishment provided by a housing association registered with the Scottish Homes established by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988(8) which provides care equivalent to that given in residential accommodation provided under Part IV of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968;

(g)

in premises which are a nursing home or mental nursing home within the meaning of the Registered Homes Act 1984 and which are either registered under Part II of that Act or exempt from registration under section 37 thereof (power to exempt Christian Science Homes);

(h)

in any premises used or intended to be used for the reception of such persons or the provision of such nursing or services as are mentioned in any of the subsections (1)(a) to (c) of section 21 or section 22(1) of the Registered Homes Act 1984 (meaning of nursing home or mental nursing home) or, in Scotland, as are mentioned in section 10(2) of the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938(9) (interpretation) and which are maintained or controlled by a body instituted by special Act of Parliament or incorporated by Royal Charter; or

(i)

in Scotland,

(i)

in premises which are a nursing home within the meaning of section 10 of the Nursing Home Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 which are either registered under that Act or exempt from registration under section 6 or 7 thereof(10) (general power to exempt homes and power to exempt Christian Science Homes); or

(ii)

in premises which are a private hospital within the meaning of section 12 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984(11) (private hospitals), and which are registered under that Act;

(j)

in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), “board” refers to the availability to the claimant in the home in which his accommodation is provided of cooked or prepared food, where the food is made available to him in consequence solely of his paying the charge for the accommodation or any charge which he is required to pay as a result of occupying the accommodation, or both of those charges, and is made available for his consumption without any further charge to him;

“training course” means a course of training or instruction provided wholly or partly by or on behalf of or in pursuance of arrangements made with, or approved by or on behalf of, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, a government department or the Secretary of State.”.

(1)

S.I. 1995/560.

(2)

S.I. 1987/1971; regulation 5(3) and (5)(b) was amended by, and regulation 48A was inserted by, S.I. 1990/1549.

(3)

S.I. 1987/1971; paragraph (5) (a) was amended by, and paragraph (7A) was inserted by, S.I. 1993/317

(4)

1948 c. 29; section 21 was amended by the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c. 19) section 42(1).

(5)

1968 c. 49.

(6)

1984 c. 23.

(7)

1968 c. 49: section 61(1A) was inserted by the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c. 19), Schedule 9, paragraph 10(8); section 61(3) was amended by virtue of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland)Act 1975 (c. 21), section 289C(1) and Schedule 7C as inserted by the Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45), section 63(1) and Schedule 11, paragraphs 5 and 13 and section 289G as inserted by the Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48) section 54.

(8)

1988 c. 43.

(9)

1938 c. 73; section 10 was amended by section 15 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960 (c. 61) and that amendment is preserved nothwithstanding the repeal of that 1960 Act by section 126(1) (a) of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 36), subsection (2) of that section 10 was added by section 26 of, and paragraph 14(b) of Schedule 4 to the Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53). Section 10 was also amended by Schedule 1 to the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1972 (c. 58); by Schedules 7 and 8 to the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979 (c. 36) and by Schedule 7 to the Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53).

(10)

Section 6 was amended by Schedule 6 paragraph 75 to the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1972 (c. 58) and by Schedule 15 to the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (c. 29). Section 7 was amended by section 26 and Schedule 4 paragraph 12 to the Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53).

(11)

1984 c. 36.