The Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 32 and Savings and Transitional Provisions) Order 2019

[F1 Tax credit closure notice U.K.

3A.— (1) The Secretary of State (or, in Northern Ireland, the Department) may, at any time, issue a notice (“a tax credit closure notice”) to—

(a) a person who is entitled to an award of child tax credit, but not an award of working tax credit, and is—

(i) a single person who has reached the qualifying age;

(ii) a member of a couple both members of which have reached that age; or

(iii) a member of a protected mixed-age couple; or

(b) a person who is entitled to both an award of a tax credit and an award of state pension credit,

informing the person that their tax credit award is to end by a specified day (“the deadline day”).

(2) The tax credit closure notice may contain such other information as the Secretary of State or the Department considers appropriate.

(3) The deadline day must not, subject to paragraph (4), be within the period of three months beginning with the day on which the tax credit closure notice is issued.

(4) The deadline day may be within such shorter period as the Secretary of State or the Department considers appropriate where—

(a) the person is entitled to an award of state pension credit when the tax credit closure notice is issued; or

(b) the tax credit closure notice is issued after cancellation of a previous tax credit closure notice or after cancellation of a migration notice issued to that person.

(5) If the tax credit award is to joint claimants the Secretary of State or the Department must issue a tax credit closure notice to each claimant.

(6) The Secretary of State or the Department may determine that the deadline day should be changed to a later day either—

(a) on the Secretary of State’s or the Department’s own initiative; or

(b) if the notified person requests such a change before the deadline day,

if there is a good reason to do so.

(7) Where the Secretary of State or the Department changes the deadline day in accordance with paragraph (6) they must inform the notified person or persons of the new deadline day.

(8) The Secretary of State or the Department may cancel a tax credit closure notice issued to any person—

(a) if it has been issued in error;

(b) in any other circumstances where the Secretary State or the Department considers it necessary to do so in the interests of the person, or any class of person, or to safeguard the efficient administration of state pension credit.

(9) In a case referred to in paragraph (8)(a) the Secretary of State or the Department may, instead of cancelling the tax credit closure notice, treat that notice as if it were a migration notice issued to that person and as if the deadline day in the tax credit closure notice were the deadline day in a migration notice.

(10) In this article—

“the Department” means the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland;

“protected mixed-age couple” means a mixed-age couple to whom article 4 (savings) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 31 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 21 and 23 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019 or article 4 (savings) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 13 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019 applies,

and the reference in paragraph (1) to a person who is entitled to a tax credit includes a person who is treated as being so entitled by virtue of regulation 11(1) (ongoing awards of tax credits) of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 or regulation 9(1) (ongoing awards of tax credits) of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Arts. 3A, 3B inserted (8.6.2024) by The Social Security (State Pension Age Claimants: Closure of Tax Credits) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/611), regs. 1(1), 3(4)