The Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

CHAPTER 3 N.I. HARDSHIP

Conditions for hardship payments N.I.

111.—(1) The Department must make a hardship payment to a single claimant or to joint claimants only where—

(a) the claimant in respect of whose sanctionable failure the award has been reduced under Article 31 or 32 of the Order (higher-level or other sanctions) is aged 18 or over,

(b) the single claimant or each joint claimant has met any compliance condition specified by the Department under regulation 101(2)(a)(i),

(c) the single claimant or either joint claimant completes and submits an application—

(i) approved for the purpose by the Department, or in such other form as it accepts as sufficient, and

(ii) in such manner as the Department determines,

(d) the single claimant or either joint claimant furnishes such information or evidence as the Department may require, in such manner as it determines,

(e) the single claimant or each joint claimant accepts that any hardship payments that are paid are recoverable,

(f) the Department is satisfied that the single claimant or each joint claimant has complied with all the work-related requirements that they were required to comply with in the 7 days preceding the day on which the claimant or joint claimants submitted an application in accordance with sub-paragraph (c);

(g) the Department is satisfied that the single claimant or each joint claimant is in hardship, and

(h) the daily reduction rate in regulation 108(1) applies for the purposes of the reduction in respect of the claimant under Article 31 or 32 of the Order (higher-level or other sanctions) .

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g) a single claimant or joint claimants must be considered as being in hardship only where—

(a) they cannot meet their immediate and most basic and essential needs, specified in paragraph (3), or the immediate and most basic and essential needs of a child or qualifying young person for whom the single claimant or either of the joint claimants is responsible, only because the amount of their award has been reduced—

(i) under Article 31 or 32 of the Order (higher-level or other sanctions), by the daily reduction rate set out in regulation 108(1), or

(ii) by the daily reduction rate prescribed in regulations made under section 5B(5A), 6(2A) or 8(2A) of the Social Security Fraud Act (Northern Ireland) 2001(loss of benefit in case of conviction, penalty or caution for benefit offence, loss of benefit for commission of benefit offence and effect of offence on benefits for members of offender's family) which is equivalent to the rate referred to in paragraph (i),

(b) they have made every effort to access alternative sources of support to meet, or partially meet, such needs, and

(c) they have made every effort to cease to incur any expenditure which does not relate to such needs.

(3) The needs referred to in paragraph (2) are—

(a) accommodation;

(b) heating;

(c) food;

(d) hygiene.

The period of hardship payments N.I.

112.—(1) A hardship payment is to be made in respect of a period which—

(a) begins with the date on which all the conditions in regulation 111(1) are met; and

(b) unless paragraph (2) applies, ends with the day before the normal payment date for the assessment period in which those conditions are met.

(2) If the period calculated in accordance with paragraph (1) would be 7 days or less, it does not end on the date referred to in paragraph (1)(b) but instead ends on the normal payment date for the following assessment period or, if earlier, the last day on which the award is to be reduced under Article 31 or 32 of the Order (higher-level or other sanctions) or under section 5B(5A), 6(2A) or 8(2A) of the Social Security Fraud Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 (loss of benefit in case of conviction, penalty or caution for benefit offence, loss of benefit for commission of benefit offence and effect of offence on benefits for members of offender's family).

(3) In this regulation “the normal payment date” for an assessment period is the date on which the Department would normally expect to make a regular payment of universal credit in respect of an assessment period in a case where payments of universal credit are made monthly in arrears.

The amount of hardship payments N.I.

113.  The amount of a hardship payment for each day in respect of which such a payment is to be made is to be determined in accordance with the formula—

where A is equal to the amount of the reduction in the single claimant's or joint claimants' award calculated under regulation 107 (amount of reduction for each assessment period) for the assessment period preceding the assessment period in which an application is submitted under regulation 111(1)(c).

Recoverability of hardship payments N.I.

114.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), hardship payments are recoverable in accordance with section 69ZH of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (recovery of hardship payments etc.) M1 .

[F1 (2) Paragraph (1) does not apply in relation to any assessment period in which—

(a) the single claimant, or each joint claimant, falls within Article 24 of the Order by virtue of regulation 89 (claimants subject to no work-related requirements – the earnings threshold);

(b) where regulation 89 applies to one of the joint claimants only, the joint claimants’ combined monthly earnings are equal to or exceed the amount of the individual threshold; or

(c) where regulation 89 does not apply to the single claimant or to either of the joint claimants, that claimant or joint claimants’ combined monthly earnings are equal to or exceed the amount that a person of the same age as the claimant, or the youngest of the joint claimants, would be paid at the hourly rate specified in regulation 4 or regulation 4A(1)(a) to (c) of the National Minimum Wage Regulations for 16 hours per week, converted to a monthly amount by multiplying by 52 and dividing by 12.

(3) Paragraph (1) ceases to apply where, since the last day on which the claimant’s or the joint claimants’ award was subject to a reduction under Article 31 or 32 of the Order—

(a) the single claimant, or each joint claimant, has fallen within Article 24 of the Order by virtue of regulation 89 (claimants subject to no work-related requirements – the earnings threshold);

(b) where regulation 89 applied to one of the joint claimants only, the joint claimants’ have had combined monthly earnings that are equal to or exceed the amount of the individual threshold; or

(c) where regulation 89 did not apply to the single claimant or to either of the joint claimants, that claimant or the joint claimants’ have had combined monthly earnings that are equal to or exceed the amount that a person of the same age as the claimant, or the youngest of the joint claimants, would be paid at the hourly rate specified in regulation 4 or regulation 4A(1)(a) to (c) of the National Minimum Wage Regulations for 16 hours per week, converted to a monthly amount by multiplying by 52 and dividing by 12,

for a period of, or more than one period where the total of those periods amounts to, at least 6 months.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 114(2)(3) substituted (coming into force in accordance with reg. 1(3) of the amending Rule) by The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 (S.R. 2017/116), regs. 1(3), 9(14)

Marginal Citations

M1 Section 69ZH was inserted by Article 109(1) of Order.

[F2 Transitional Provision N.I.

115.— (1) Until the date determined in accordance with paragraph (6), these regulations have effect subject to the following modifications.

(2) Omit regulation 54 (surplus earnings), as amended by regulation 9(4) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017, and regulation 58 (unused losses).

(3) In regulation 57 (self-employed earnings- treatment of losses)—

(a) for paragraph (2) substitute—

“(2) A person’s self-employed earnings in respect of an assessment period are to be calculated by taking the amount of the gross profits (or, in the case of a partnership, the person’s share of those profits) of the trade, profession or vocation and deducting from that amount—

(a) any payment made to HMRC in the assessment period in respect of the trade, profession or vocation by way of—

(i) Class 2 contributions payable under section 11(2), (6) or (8) of the Contributions and Benefits Act or any Class 4 contributions payable under section 15 of that Act, or

(ii) income tax; and

(b) any relievable pension contributions made by the person in the assessment period (unless a deduction has been made in respect of those contributions in calculating a person’s employed earnings).

(3) The gross profits of the trade, profession or vocation in respect of an assessment period are the actual receipts in that period less any deductions for expenses allowed under regulation 58 or 59.”;

(b) in paragraph (3), for “paragraph (2)” substitute “paragraph (3)”.

(4) In regulation 59(3) (permitted expenses), after sub-paragraph (a) insert—

“(aa) any loss incurred in respect of a previous assessment period;”.

(5) In regulation 63 (minimum income floor), omit paragraph (5).

(6) The date is 2nd April 2018 or, in respect of an existing award of Universal Credit where 2nd April 2018 is not the first day of an assessment period, the first day of the next assessment period.]

Textual Amendments

F2 Reg. 115 inserted (coming into force in accordance with reg. 1(3) of the amending Rule) by The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 (S.R. 2017/116), regs. 1(3), 9(15)