The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Amendment of the Income Support Regulations

2.—(1) The Income Support Regulations shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (9).

(2) In regulation 41(1)(1) (capital treated as income) the words “£8,000 or, in a case where regulation 45(aa) (capital limit) applies, £12,000 or, in a case where regulation 45(b) applies,” shall be omitted.

(3) In regulation 42 (notional income)—

(a) in paragraph (2)(g)(2) after “personal pension scheme” there shall be inserted “, occupational pension scheme”;

(b) for paragraph (2A)(3) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—

“(2ZA) A claimant who has attained the age of 60 shall be treated as possessing—

(a) the amount of any income from an occupational pension scheme, personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract—

(i) for which no claim has been made, and

(ii) to which he might expect to be entitled if a claim for it were made;

(b) income from an occupational pension scheme which the claimant elected to defer,

but only from the date on which it could be expected to be acquired were an application for it to be made.

(2A) Where a person, aged not less than 60, is a person entitled to money purchase benefits under an occupational pension scheme or a personal pension scheme, or is a party to, or a person deriving entitlement to a pension under, a retirement annuity contract, and—

(a) in the case of an occupational pension scheme or personal pension scheme, he fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available in that scheme where—

(i) he defers, in whole or in part, the payment of any income which would have been payable to him by his pension fund holder;

(ii) he fails to take any necessary action to secure that the whole of any income which would be payable to him by his pension fund holder upon his applying for it, is so paid, or

(iii) income withdrawal is not available to him under that scheme; or

(b) in the case of a retirement annuity contract, he fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available under that contract,

the amount of any income foregone shall be treated as possessed by him, but only from the date on which it could be expected to be acquired were an application for it to be made.”;

(c) in paragraph (2C)(4)—

(i) for “relevant personal pension scheme” there shall be substituted “relevant occupational or personal pension scheme”, and

(ii) for “under a personal pension scheme” there shall be substituted “under a scheme”;

(d) after paragraph (2C) there shall be inserted—

“(2CA) In paragraph (2A), “money purchase benefits” has the meaning it has in the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993(5).”; and

(e) at the end of paragraph (4)(6) after “any payment in kind” there shall be added “to the third party”.

(4) For regulation 45(7) (capital limit) there shall be substituted the following regulation—

“Capital Limit

45.   For the purposes of section 130(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act as it applies to income support (no entitlement to benefit if capital exceeds prescribed amount), the prescribed amount is £16,000.”.

(5) In regulation 51(2) (notional capital) after sub-paragraph (d)(8) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(da) an occupational pension scheme where the claimant is aged under 60; or”.

(6) In regulation 53(9) (calculation of tariff income from capital)—

(a) in paragraph (1)—

(i) the words “(1ZA) or” shall be omitted;

(ii) for “£3,000” (in both places where it occurs) there shall be substituted “£6,000”, and

(iii) for “£8,000” there shall be substituted “£16,000”;

(b) paragraph (1ZA) shall be omitted;

(c) in paragraph (1B) the words “and regulation 45” shall be omitted; and

(d) in paragraphs (2) and (3) “, (1ZA)” shall be omitted.

(7) In Schedule 3(10) (housing costs) in paragraph 14(4)(a) and (c) for “£8,000” there shall be substituted “£16,000”.

(8) In Schedule 9 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings)—

(a) in paragraph 21(11) after sub-paragraph (3) there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—

“(4) The reference in sub-paragraph (1) to “income in kind” does not include a payment to a third party made in respect of the claimant which is used by the third party to provide benefits in kind to the claimant.”;

(b) in paragraph 25—

(i) in sub-paragraph (1)(b)(12) for “in accordance with regulations made under section 57A of the Adoption Act 1976 (permitted allowances) or paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or” there shall be substituted “pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002(13) or in accordance”, and

(ii) for sub-paragraph (1A)(14) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(1A) Any payment, other than a payment to which sub-paragraph (1)(b) applies, made to the claimant pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.”; and

(c) for paragraph 58(15) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“58.   Any payment made under regulations made under section 8 of the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002(16).”.

(9) In Schedule 10 (capital to be disregarded)—

(a) for paragraph 63(17) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“63.   Any payment made under regulations made under section 8 of the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002.”; and

(b) for paragraph 64(18) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“64.   Any payment made to the claimant pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.”.

(1)

Regulation 41(1) was substituted by Article 7(6) of S.R. 1999 No. 472 (C. 36) and amended by regulation 2(1)(a) of S.R. 2000 No. 366

(2)

Paragraph (2)(g) was added by regulation 2(4)(a) of S.R. 1995 No. 367

(3)

Paragraph (2A) was inserted by regulation 2(4)(b) of S.R. 1995 No. 367

(4)

Paragraph (2C) was inserted by regulation 2(4)(b) of S.R. 1995 No. 367 and amended by regulation 24(2) of S.R. 2003 No. 191

(5)

1993 c. 49

(6)

Paragraph (4) was substituted by regulation 9(a) of S.R. 1988 No. 318 and amended by regulation 4(4)(a) of S.R. 1994 No. 77, regulation 5(2) of S.R. 1995 No. 410, regulation 2(1)(a) and (2) of S.R. 1995 No. 481, regulation 2(2)(a) of S.R. 1998 No. 326, regulation 2(1)(a) of S.R. 1999 No. 391, regulation 2(3) of S.R. 2002 No. 128, paragraph 10(e) and (f) of Schedule 1 to S.R. 2003 No. 195 and regulation 2(6) of S.R. 2005 No. 98

(7)

Regulation 45 was substituted by regulation 11(1)(a) of S.R. 1996 No. 93 and amended by regulation 2(1)(b) of S.R. 2000 No. 366

(8)

Paragraph (2)(d) was added by regulation 2(5) of S.R. 1995 No. 367

(9)

Regulation 53 was amended by regulation 12 of S.R. 1988 No. 431, regulation 5(2) of S.R. 1990 No. 137, regulation 11(1)(b) of S.R. 1996 No. 93, regulation 8 of S.R. 1997 No. 22, regulation 2(1)(c) of S.R. 2000 No. 366 and regulation 24(3) of S.R. 2003 No. 191

(10)

Schedule 3 was substituted by Schedule 1 to S.R. 1995 No. 301; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 1995 No. 434, S.R. 1996 No. 199 and S.R. 1999 No. 107

(11)

Paragraph 21 was substituted by regulation 36(d) of S.R. 1988 No. 146; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 2000 No. 71

(12)

Sub-paragraph (1) was substituted by regulation 4 of S.R. 1989 No. 366 and head (b) was substituted by regulation 2(8)(a) of S.R. 1998 No. 2 and amended by regulation 2(4)(a)(i) of S.R. 2003 No. 417

(13)

2002 c. 38

(14)

Sub-paragraph (1A) was inserted by regulation 2(4)(a)(ii) of S.R. 2003 No. 417

(15)

Paragraph 58 was added by regulation 2(2)(b) of S.R. 1997 No. 22

(16)

2002 c. 6 (N.I.)

(17)

Paragraph 63 was added by regulation 2(5)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 417

(18)

Paragraph 64 was added by regulation 2(5)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 417