The Housing Benefit (General) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Made23rd June 2000

Coming into operation3rd July 2000

The Department for Social Development, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 122(1)(d), 132(3) and 171(3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 19921 and now vested in it2, and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf, with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel3 and after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee that proposals in respect of these Regulations should not be referred to it4, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit (General) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 and shall come into operation on 3rd July 2000.

2

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19545 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendment of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations2

In regulation 21 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (calculation of income on a weekly basis)6—

a

in paragraph (1)(c)7 after “income” there shall be inserted “or, in a case where the conditions in paragraph (1ZA) are met, from those earnings plus whichever credit specified in sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph is appropriate”, and

b

after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

1ZA
The conditions of this paragraph are that—
a
the claimant’s earnings which form part of his average weekly income are less than the lower of either his relevant child care charges or whichever of the deductions specified in paragraph (1A) otherwise applies in his case, and
b
that claimant or, if he is a member of a couple either the claimant or his partner, is in receipt of either working families' tax credit or disabled person’s tax credit.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 23rd June 2000.

John O'NeillSenior Officer of theDepartment for Social Development

The Department of Finance and Personnel hereby consents to the foregoing Regulations.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Finance and Personnel on 23rd June 2000.

Brian DelaneySenior Officer of theDepartment of Finance and Personnel

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations further amend provisions in the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 in respect of the calculation of average weekly income. In particular they provide that claimants in receipt of either working families' tax credit or disabled person’s tax credit can have that credit taken into account in the calculation of the child care costs disregard applicable in their case.

These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.