The Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998

Regulations with respect to decisions N.I.

12 .F1 —F2 F3 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Chapter and the Administration Act, provision may be made by regulations for the making of any decision by the Department under or in connection with the current legislation, or the former legislation, including a decision on a claim for benefit.

(2) Where it appears to the Department that a matter before it involves a question of fact requiring special expertise, the Department may direct that in dealing with that matter it shall have the assistance of one or more experts.

(3) In this Article—

• “the current legislation” means the Contributions and Benefits Act, the Jobseekers Order[F4 , the Recovery of Benefits Order [F5 , the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 [F6 , Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 and Part 2 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015] [F7 and Part 5 of that Order] .]] [F8 and Part 1 of the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2015] [F9 , section 29 of that Act and Articles 13 to 16 of the Welfare Reform and Work (Northern Ireland) Order 2016] ;

• “expert” means a person appearing to the Department to have knowledge or experience which would be relevant in determining the question of fact requiring special expertise;

• “the former legislation” means the National Insurance Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1974, the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1974, the [1975 c. 15.] Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975 and Part III of the [1986 NI 18.] Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1986.

F1 functions transf. by 1999 c. 10

F2 mod. by SR 1999/349, 350

F3 prosp. in pt. certain functions transf. by 2002 c. 21

F4 2002 c. 14 (NI)

F5 Art. 12(3): words in the definition of "the current legislation" substituted (27.10.2008) by Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 (c. 2), ss. 28(1), 60(1), Sch. 3 para. 10(4); S.R. 2008/276, art. 2(2)(d), Sch. Pt. 2

F6 Words in art. 12(3) substituted (2.5.2016 for specified purposes) by The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/2006), art. 2(2), Sch. 2 para. 37; S.R. 2016/215, art. 2(2)(c)(v)(hh)

F7 Words in art. 12(3) inserted (2.5.2016) by The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/2006), art. 2(2), Sch. 9 para. 38; S.R. 2016/215, art. 2(5)(h)(v)

F8 Words in art. 12(3) inserted (6.4.2016 unless brought into operation earlier by an order under s. 53(1) of the amending Act) by Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 (c. 5), s. 53(3), Sch. 12 para. 30

F9 Words in art. 12 substituted (4.9.2017) by The Welfare Reform and Work (Northern Ireland) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/999), arts. 2(1), 15(6) (with art. 16); S.R. 2017/166, art. 2(c)