The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 13 and Savings and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order preserves the existing protection for certain mixed-age couples (that is couples where one member has reached the qualifying age for state pension credit) when they are issued with a migration notice requiring them to move to universal credit.

Article 2 amends Article 4 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 13 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019 (“the No. 13 Order”).

Article 3 of the No. 13 Order commenced the provision that excluded entitlement to state pension credit where the claimant’s partner was under the qualifying age for that benefit. Article 4 of that Order contained a saving provision that protected mixed-age couples who were entitled to housing benefit or state pension credit at the time that exclusion came into effect.

Article 2 of this Order allows that saving, which would otherwise cease when a migration notice is issued, to be reinstated when universal credit ends. It also allows the saving to continue where the couple are issued with a migration notice but do not make a claim for universal credit or make a claim but are not entitled.