In these regulations—

• “the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 M1;

• “the EEA Regulations” means the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 M2;

• “the ESA Regulations” means the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 M3;

• “the ITEPA” means the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 M4;

• “the Medical Evidence Regulations” means the Social Security (Medical Evidence) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1976 M5;

• “the Order” means the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015;

• “adopter” has the meaning in regulation 88(3)(a);

• “attendance allowance” means—

  1. a

     an attendance allowance under section 64 of the Contributions and Benefits Act M6;

  2. b

     an increase of disablement pension under section 104 or 105 of that Act (increases where constant attendance needed and for exceptionally severe disablement);

  3. c

     a payment by virtue of Article 14, 15, 16, 43 or 44 of the Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme 1983 M7 or any analogous payment;

  4. d

     any payment based on the need for attendance which is paid as an addition to a war disablement pension;

  5. e

     armed forces independence payment under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011;

• “authority” has the meaning in Article 2 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 M8;

• F1...

• “blind” means certified as severely sight impaired or blind by a consultant ophthalmologist;

• “care leaver” has the meaning in regulation 8(4);

• “carer's allowance” means a carer's allowance under section 70 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “carer element” has the meaning in regulation 30;

• “childcare costs element” has the meaning in regulation 32;

• “child element” has the meaning in regulation 25;

• “close relative” in relation to a person, means—

  1. f

     a parent, parent-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, step-parent, step-son, step-daughter, brother or sister; and

  2. g

     if any of the above is a member of a couple, the other member of the couple;

• “confinement” has the meaning in regulation 8(4);

• “course of advanced education” has the meaning in regulation 12;

• “disability living allowance” means an allowance under section 71 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “earned income” has the meaning in regulation 51;

• “employment and support allowance” means an allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 M9 as amended by Schedule 3 and Part 1 of Schedule 12 to the Order;

• “expected number of hours per week” has the meaning in regulation 87;

• “foster parent” means the person with whom a child is, or is proposed to be, placed under the Foster Placement (Children) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 M10;

• “grant” has the meaning in regulation 68;

• “health care professional” means (except in regulation 96)—

  1. h

     a registered medical practitioner;

  2. i

     a registered nurse; or

  3. j

     an occupational therapist or physiotherapist registered with a regulatory body established by an Order in Council under section 60 of the Health Act 1999 M11;

• “housing costs element” has the meaning in regulation 26;

• “HSC trust” means a Health and Social Care trust established under Article 10 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 M12;

• “individual threshold” has the meaning in regulation 89(2);

• “industrial injuries benefit” means a benefit under Part 5 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “jobseeker's allowance” means an allowance under the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 as amended by Part 1 of Schedule 12 to the Order (removing references to an income-based allowance);

• F2“LCWRA element” has the meaning in regulation 28;

• “looked after by an authority” in relation to a child or young person means a child or young person who is looked after by an authority within the meaning of Article 25 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

• “maternity allowance” means a maternity allowance under section 35 or 35B of the Contributions and Benefits Act M13;

• “monthly earnings” has the meaning in regulation 89(6);

• “national insurance contributions” means contributions under Part 1 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “National Minimum Wage Regulations” means that National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015. M14

• “paid work” means work done for payment or in expectation of payment and does not include being engaged by a charitable or voluntary organisation, or as a volunteer, in circumstances in which the payment received by or due to be paid to the person is in respect of expenses;

• “partner” means (except in regulation 77) the other member of a couple;

• “personal independence payment” means an allowance under Part 5 of the Order;

• “prisoner” means—

  1. a

     a person who is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court; or

  2. b

     is on temporary release in accordance with the provisions of the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 M15,

  other than a person who is detained in hospital under the provisions of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 M16;

• “qualifying young person” has the meaning in regulation 6;

• “redundancy” has the meaning in Article 174(1) of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 M17;

• “Regional Health and Social Care Board” means a Board established under section 7 of the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 M18;

• “regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person” has the meaning in regulation 31;

• “relevant childcare” has the meaning in regulation 37;

• “responsible for a child or qualifying young person” has the meaning in regulation 4;

• “statutory adoption pay” means a payment under Part XIIZB of the Contributions and Benefits Act M19;

• “statutory maternity pay” means a payment under Part XII of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “statutory paternity pay” means statutory paternity pay under Part XIIZA of the Contributions and Benefits Act M20;

• “statutory shared parental pay” means statutory shared parental pay payable in accordance with Part XIIZC of the Contributions and Benefits Act M21;

• “statutory sick pay” means a payment under Part XI of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• F3“step-parent” in relation to a child or qualifying young person (“A”), means a person who is not A's parent but—

  1. (a)

     is a member of a couple, the other member of which is a parent of A, where both are responsible for A; or

  2. (b)

     was previously a member of a couple, the other member of which was a parent of A, where immediately prior to ceasing to be a member of that couple the person was, and has since continued to be, responsible for A;

• “student loan” has the meaning in regulation 68;

• “terminally ill” means suffering from a progressive disease where death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 6 months;

• “total outstanding reduction period” has the meaning in regulation 98(5);

• “trade dispute” has the meaning as in Article 127 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 M22;

• “unearned income” has the meaning in regulation 66;

• “war disablement pension” means any retired pay, pension or allowance payable in respect of disablement under an instrument specified in section 639(2) of the ITEPA;

• “widowed mother's allowance” means an allowance under section 37 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “widowed parent's allowance” means an allowance under section 39A of the Contributions and Benefits Act M23;

• “widow's pension” means a pension under section 38 of the Contributions and Benefits Act.

For the purposes of these Regulations and notwithstanding section 39(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 M24, where a period of time is expressed to begin on, or to be reckoned from, a particular day, that day shall be included in the period.