Local Government Finance Act 1988

8 The following shall be inserted after section 51—

“51A Community charge benefits: administration

(1) Regulations may provide as follows as regards any community charge benefit—

(a) for requiring a claim for a benefit to be made by such person, in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed;

(b) for treating a claim made in such circumstances as may be prescribed as having been made at such date earlier or later than that at which it is made as may be prescribed;

(c) for permitting a claim to be made, or treated as if made, for a period wholly or partly after the date on which it is made;

(d) for permitting an award on a claim to be made for such a period subject to the condition that the claimant satisfies the requirements for entitlement when benefit becomes payable, or any right to a reduction or a consequential reduction becomes available, under the award;

(e) for a review of any award if those requirements are found not to have been satisfied;

(f) for the disallowance on any ground of a person’s claim for a benefit to be treated as a disallowance of any further claim by that person for that benefit until the grounds of the original disallowance have ceased to exist;

(g) for enabling one person to act for another in relation to a claim for a benefit and for enabling such a claim to be made and proceeded with in the name of a person who has died;

(h) for requiring any information or evidence needed for the determination of a claim or of any question arising in connection with a claim to be furnished by such person as may be prescribed in accordance with the regulations;

(i) for the time when and manner in which any benefit (or part) which takes the form of a payment is to be paid, and for the information and evidence to be furnished in connection with the payment;

(j) for the time when the right to make a reduction or consequential reduction may be exercised;

(k) for notice to be given of any change of circumstances affecting the continuance of entitlement to a benefit;

(l) for calculating the amount of a benefit according to a prescribed scale or otherwise adjusting it so as to avoid fractional amounts or facilitate computation;

(m) for suspending (in whole or in part) any payment or right to make a reduction or consequential reduction, where it appears to the authority which allowed a benefit that a question arises whether the conditions for entitlement to the benefit are or were fulfilled or whether the award ought to be revised or whether an appeal ought to be brought against the award;

(n) for withholding in prescribed circumstances any payment or right to make a reduction or consequential reduction, and for subsequently making in prescribed circumstances any withheld payment or restoring in prescribed circumstances any right to make a reduction or consequential reduction;

(o) in the case of any benefit (or part) which takes the form of a payment, for payment or distribution to or among persons claiming to be entitled on the death of any person, and for dispensing with strict proof of their title;

(p) for making a payment on account of a benefit, or conferring a right to make a reduction or consequential reduction on account, where no claim has been made and it is impracticable for one to be made immediately;

(q) for making a payment on account of a benefit, or conferring a right to make a reduction or consequential reduction on account, where a claim has been made but it is impracticable for the claim or an appeal, reference, review or application relating to it to be determined immediately;

(r) for making a payment on account of a benefit, or conferring a right to make a reduction or consequential reduction on account, where an award has been made but it is impracticable to institute the benefit immediately;

(s) generally as to administration.

(2) Regulations under this section may include provision that prescribed provisions shall apply instead of prescribed provisions of the 1987 Act or the 1988 Act, or that prescribed provisions of the 1987 Act or the 1988 Act shall not apply or shall apply subject to prescribed amendments or adaptations.

(3) References in subsection (2) above to the 1987 Act or the 1988 Act include references to regulations made under the Act concerned.

51B Administration of benefits: general

(1) Regulations may provide for a claim for one relevant benefit to be treated, either in the alternative or in addition, as a claim for any other relevant benefit that may be prescribed.

(2) Regulations may provide for treating a payment made or right conferred by virtue of regulations under section 51(1)(t) above, or of regulations under section 51A(1)(p) to (r) above, as made or conferred on account of any relevant benefit that is subsequently awarded or paid.

(3) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) above relevant benefits are—

(a) any benefit to which section 51 above applies, and

(b) any community charge benefit.”