The Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme 1983

Unemployability allowances

18.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Article, where a disabled person is in receipt of a pension under Article 11 in respect of disablement so serious as to make him unemployable, he may be awarded—

(i) a personal allowance by way of supplement to his pension at the rate specified in Schedule 3, paragraph 7(a); and

(ii) additional allowances for dependants in accordance with such of the provisions of paragraph (5) of this Article as may be appropriate in his case.

(2) For the purposes of this Article a disabled person may be deemed to be unemployable although in receipt of earnings which are, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, unlikely to exceed £1040 a year.

(3) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) below, a disabled person shall not be eligible for any award under this article if he is in receipt of a retirement pension under Chapter I or Chapter II of Part II of the Social Security Act 1975 except in so far as that retirement pension consists of—

(a) an increase of such pension by way of—

(i) age addition under section 40 of that Act; or

(ii) graduated retirement benefit under the National Insurance Act 1965(1); or

(b) an additional component within the meaning of section 6(1)(b) of the Social Security Pensions Act 1975; or

(c) a category A or B retirement pension as provided by regulation 18 of the Social Security (Widow's Benefit, Retirement Pension and Other Benefits) (Transitional) Regulations 1979.

(4) The last foregoing paragraph shall apply to Northern Ireland as if the references therein to the Social Security Act 1975, the Social Security Pensions Act 1975, the Social Security (Widow's Benefit, Retirement Pension and Other Benefits) (Transitional) Regulations 1979 and the National Insurance Act 1965 were references to the corresponding provisions of or under the legislation of Northern Ireland.

(5) Where a disabled person is awarded an allowance under paragraph (1)(i) of this Article, he may also be awarded additional allowances for dependents in accordance with the following provisions of this paragraph—

(a) where the disabled person is a married woman, an allowance may be awarded in respect of a husband (being a husband who would be a dependent husband if, for the references in Article 2(8) to the material date, there were substituted references to the date on which the disabled person became unemployable) at the rate and subject to the conditions which would be appropriate under Article 12 if the husband were an eligible member of the family;

(b) where an allowance has been awarded under Article 12 in respect of a wife or dependent husband, or where an allowance for a dependent husband has been awarded under sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph the rate of the allowance may be increased by an amount not exceeding the appropriate amount in Schedule 3, paragraph 7(b)(i), if the Secretary of State thinks fit having regard to the financial circumstances of the wife or dependent husband in respect of whom the allowance has been granted;

(c) where the disabled person is not in receipt of an allowance under Article 12 or under sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph in respect of a wife or husband, an allowance may be awarded in respect of an adult dependant at a rate not exceeding the appropriate rate specified in Schedule 3, paragraph 7(b)(ii), if the Secretary of State thinks fit having regard to the financial circumstances of the adult dependant in respect of whom the allowance is claimed:

Provided that an allowance shall not be awarded in respect of more than one adult dependant;

(d) an allowance may be awarded in respect of any child who is an eligible member of the disabled person's family at the appropriate rate specified in paragraph 7(b)(iii) of Schedule 3 to this Scheme;

(e) where a child is not an eligible member of the disabled person's family but, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, having regard to the child's relationship to or connection with that person and the other circumstances of the case, the child should be so treated for the purposes of the last preceding subparagraph, that child shall be so treated for those purposes.

(6) Where a disabled person to whom a personal allowance may be or has been awarded under the foregoing provisions of this Article is eligible for a category A or B retirement pension, as provided for by regulation 18 of the Social Security (Widow's Benefit, Retirement Pension and Other Benefits) (Transitional) Regulations 1979, or by corresponding regulations made in Northern Ireland, or a widow's pension under Chapter I or Chapter II of Part II of the Social Security Act 1975 or the corresponding provisions of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975, or where a person to or in respect of whom a personal allowance or an additional allowance may be or has been so awarded is eligible for benefit payable out of public funds under the law of any place outside the United Kingdom being benefit which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, is analogous to benefit under Chapter I or Chapter II of Part II of the Social Security Act 1975, the Secretary of State may take into account any such pension against the personal allowance and any such benefit against the person allowance and the additional allowance in such manner and to such extent as he may think appropriate having regard, in the case of any such benefit, to any adjustment which would be made if the person were eligible for the analogous benefit under the said Act.

(1)

(as modified by the Social Security (Graduated Retirement Benefit) (No. 2) Regulations 1978 (S.I. 1978/393)).