The Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Claimants subject to no work-related requirements N.I.

88.—(1) A claimant falls within Article 24 of the Order (claimants subject to no work-related requirements) if—

(a) the claimant has reached the qualifying age for state pension credit;

(b) the claimant has caring responsibilities for one or more severely disabled persons for at least 35 hours a week but does not meet the conditions for entitlement to a carer's allowance [F1 or carer support payment] and the Department is satisfied that it would be unreasonable to require the claimant to comply with a work search requirement and a work availability requirement, including if such a requirement were limited in accordance with Article 22(4) or 23(3) of the Order,

(c) the claimant is pregnant and it is 11 weeks or less before her expected week of confinement or was pregnant and it is 15 weeks or less since the date of her confinement,

(d) the claimant is an adopter and it is 12 months or less since—

(i) the date that the child was placed with the claimant, or

(ii) if the claimant requested that the 12 months should run from a date within 14 days before the child was expected to be placed, that date,

[F2 (da) the claimant is a member of a couple entitled to universal credit by virtue of regulation 3(1)(b) and has student income in relation to the course they are undertaking which is taken into account in the calculation of the award;]

(e) the claimant does not have to meet the condition in Article 9(1)(d) of the Order (not receiving education) by virtue of regulation 14 and—

(i) is a person referred to in paragraph (a) of that regulation (under 21, in non-advanced education and without parental support), or

(ii) has student income in relation to the course they are undertaking which is taken into account in the calculation of the award, or

(f) the claimant is the responsible foster parent of a child under the age of one.

(2) In paragraph (1)(b) “severely disabled” has the meaning in section 70 of the Contributions and Benefits Act.

(3) In paragraph (1)(d)—

(a) “adopter” means a person who has been matched with a child for adoption and who is, or is intended to be, the responsible carer for the child, but excluding a person who is a foster parent, or close relative of the child, and

(b) a person is matched with a child for adoption when it is decided by an adoption agency that the person would be a suitable adoptive parent for the child.

[F3 (4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(e)(ii), a claimant is not to be treated as having student income where—

(a) that income is a postgraduate loan; and

(b) the course in respect of which the loan is paid is not a full-time course.

(5) In paragraph (4), “postgraduate loan” has the meaning given in regulation 68(7).]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 88(1)(b) inserted (19.11.2023) by The Carer’s Assistance (Carer Support Payment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (Consequential Amendments) Order 2023 (S.I. 2023/1218), arts. 1(2), 51(7)

F2 Reg. 88(1)(da) inserted (8.5.2018) by The Universal Credit (Persons Required to Provide Information, Miscellaneous Amendments and Saving and Transitional Provision) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2018 (S.R. 2018/92), regs. 1(2), 6(15)

F3 Reg. 88(4)(5) inserted (15.7.2020) by The Social Security (Income and Capital) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 (S.R. 2020/108), regs. 1(1), 8(6)