The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2019

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (“the 2012 Regulations”) and the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

Regulation 2(a) provides for an amount to be taken into account in calculating a person’s deemed living expenses under the 2012 Regulations. This arises where, as a result of there being more than two children or qualifying young persons, section 10(1A) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 provides for no amount to be included in a universal credit calculation for children born on or after 6 April 2017. The effect is to ensure parity of treatment for all households with children in the scheme provided by the 2012 Regulations, irrespective of when a child was born.

Regulation 2(b) provides that local authorities must disregard payments under a transitional arrangement within the universal credit scheme when calculating a person’s income under the 2012 Regulations.

Regulation 2(c) and (d) provide that local authorities must disregard certain payments in the calculation of income and capital for the purposes of the 2012 Regulations. These are payments under the Carer’s Assistance (Young Carer Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2019, and payments or interest on payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme administered by the Home Office.

Regulation 2(d) also provides that payments of arrears of maternity allowance must be disregarded in calculating a person’s capital in the 2012 Regulations, though these payments are to continue to be taken into account as income for council tax reduction purposes.

Regulation 3 makes equivalent provision to that in regulation 2 which relates to the Windrush Compensation Scheme and payment of arrears of maternity allowance, for the purposes of the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.