The Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987

Sickness benefit etc claimed by hospital in-patient

2.—(1) Where it is being determined whether the provisions of regulation 19(2) (good cause) have been satisfied by a person who is, or has been, an in-patient in a hospital and who makes a claim for sickness or invalidity benefit or severe disablement allowance, any such provision shall, in relation only to that claim, be deemed to have been satisfied by him in respect of that one of the following periods which is appropriate in so far as it is relevant for the purpose of any provision:–

(a) where the person concerned has been discharged from the hospital, the period commencing on the date of his admission thereto as an in-patient and ending 13 weeks thereafter or 3 weeks after the date of his discharge, whichever period is the shorter; or

(b) where the person concerned has not been so discharged, the period of 13 weeks from the date of his admission to the hospital as an in-patient;

and where the person concerned claims an increase of that benefit or allowance in respect of a child or adult dependant within the period of 1 month from the date of the claim to that benefit or allowance, any such provision shall be deemed to be satisfied for the whole of the period in respect of which the claim to that benefit or allowance is made.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph 2(1) above–

(a) in ascertaining the date of admission to hospital of the person concerned, where that person has previously been an in-patient in one or more hospitals for one or more periods any such period shall be taken into account; so however that the interval, or (if there was more than one previous period as an in-patient) each interval, between the end of such period and the beginning of the appropriate period specified in paragraph 2(1) above does not exceed 3 weeks;

(b) “hospital” means any institution for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from illness and any maternity home (and, for this purpose, “illness” includes mental disorder and any injury or disability requiring medical treatment or nursing); and

(c) “in-patient” means a person who is admitted as an in-patient to a hospital for the purposes of receiving treatment (not being treatment during convalescence) by or under the direction of a registered medical practitioner.