The Social Security(Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Housing benefit to take the form of payments or reductions

16.—(1) In Article 29 of the 1986 Order (arrangements for housing benefit) after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(1A) The rebates and allowances referred to in paragraph (1) may take any of the following forms, that is to say—

(a) a payment or payments by the Executive or the Department of the Environment, as the case may be, to the person entitled to the benefit;

(b) a reduction in the amount of any payments which that person is liable to make to the Executive or the Department of the Environment, as the case may be, by way of rent or rates; or

(c) such a payment or payments and such a reduction;

and in any statutory provision (whenever passed or made) “pay”, in relation to housing benefit, includes discharge in any of those forms.”.

(2) Paragraph (1) shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1st April 1988.