Amendment of the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations7.

(1)

The Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 are amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (7).

(2)

In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—

(a)

after the definition of “attendance allowance” insert—

““basic rate”, where it relates to the rate of tax, has the same meaning as in the Income Tax Act 2007 (see section 989 of that Act);”; and

(b)

omit the definition of “starting rate”71.

(3)

In regulation 27(1) (meaning of “income”) for sub-paragraphs (o) and (p) substitute—

“(o)

royalties or other sums paid as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright, design, patent or trade mark;

(p)

any payment in respect of any—

(i)

book registered under the Public Lending Right Scheme 1982, or

(ii)

work made under any international public lending right scheme that is analogous to the Public Lending Right Scheme 1982;”.

(4)

In regulation 31 (calculation of weekly income)—

(a)

in paragraph (5) for sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) substitute—

“(a)

royalties or other sums paid as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright, design, patent or trade mark;

(b)

any payment in respect of any—

(i)

book registered under the Public Lending Right Scheme 1982; or

(ii)

work made under any international public lending right scheme that is analogous to the Public Lending Right Scheme 1982; and”;

(b)

for paragraph (8)(b) substitute—

“(b)

any amount to which paragraph (5) applies where the claimant is the first owner of the copyright, design, patent or trademark, or an original contributor to the book or work referred to in paragraph (5)(b).”; and

(c)

after paragraph (8) insert—

“(8A)

For the purpose of paragraph (8)(b), and for that purpose only, the amounts specified in paragraph (5) shall be treated as though they were earnings.”.

(5)

In regulation 34(5)(a)72 (calculation of net earnings of employed earners) and regulation 38(1)73 (deduction of tax and contributions of self-employed earners)—

(a)

omit “the starting rate or, as the case may be, the starting rate and”; and

(b)

for “starting rate” substitute “basic rate”.

(6)

In Schedule 5 (sums disregarded from claimant’s earnings) in paragraph 5(1) after head (c) add—

“or

(d)

has, or is to be treated as having, limited capability for work within the meaning of section 1(4) of the Welfare Reform Act or limited capability for work-related activity within the meaning of section 2(5) of that Act and either—

(i)

the assessment phase as defined in section 24(2) of the Welfare Reform Act has ended, or

(ii)

regulation 7 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (circumstances where the condition that the assessment phase has ended before entitlement to the support component or the work-related activity component arises does not apply) applies.”.

(7)

In Schedule 7 (capital to be disregarded) after paragraph 28A74 insert—

“28B.

Any payment made under Part 8A of the Act (entitlement to health in pregnancy grant).”.