7.—(1) Whether a person is responsible for a child or young person for the purposes of these [F1Regulations] is determined as follows.
(2) A person is responsible for a child or young person who normally lives with them.
(3) But a person is not responsible for a young person if the two of them are living as a couple.
(4) Where a child or young person normally lives with two or more persons who are not a couple, only one of them is to be treated as responsible and that is the person who has the main responsibility.
(5) The persons mentioned in paragraph (4) may jointly nominate which of them has the main responsibility but the relevant authority may determine which person has the main responsibility—
(a)in default of agreement,
(b)if a nomination does not, in the opinion of the relevant authority, reflect the arrangements between those persons, or
(c)in a case to which paragraph (6) applies, if a nomination does not reflect the determination made by the Secretary of State.
(6) Where a person has an award of universal credit and the Secretary of State has made a determination under regulation 4(5) of the 2013 Regulations, the local authority may determine which person has the main responsibility in accordance with the Secretary of State’s determination.
(7) A child or young person is to be treated as not being the responsibility of any person during any period when the child or young person is a prisoner.
(8) A child or young person is to be treated as not being the responsibility of any person during any period when the child or young person is being looked after by a local authority, unless the child or young person is placed with, or (ignoring any planned short breaks for respite purposes) continues to live with—
(a)their parent,
(b)a person with parental responsibility for them, or
(c)a kinship carer approved under the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009(1).
(9) Where a child or young person is temporarily absent from a person’s household the person ceases to be responsible for the child or young person if—
(a)the absence is expected to exceed, or does exceed, 6 months, or
(b)the absence is from Great Britain and is expected to exceed, or does exceed, one month unless it is in circumstances where an absence of a person for longer than one month would be disregarded for the purpose of regulation 17(3) (persons treated as being in Great Britain) or regulation 18(3) or (4) (temporary absence from Great Britain).
[F2(10) In this Regulation—
(a)“looked after by a local authority” has the meaning given in section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995,
(b)“prisoner” means a person who is—
(i)detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court, other than a person who is detained in hospital under the provisions of the Mental Health Care and Treatment (Scotland) Act 2003, the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, the Mental Health Act 1983 or the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, or
(ii)on temporary release from a detention mentioned under sub-paragraph (a) in accordance with rules made under the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989, the Prison Act 1952 or the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.]
Textual Amendments
F1Word in reg. 7(1) substituted (31.3.2022) by The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (S.S.I. 2022/52), regs. 1(2), 4(a)
F2Reg. 7(10) inserted (31.3.2022) by The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 (S.S.I. 2022/52), regs. 1(2), 4(b)
Commencement Information