15.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4), the claimant and any partner and, where the claimant or his partner is treated as responsible by virtue of regulation 14 (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for another) for a child or young person, that child or young person and any child of that child or young person, shall be treated as members of the same household where any of them is absent from the dwelling occupied as his home.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any person who is not treated as occupying the dwelling as his home because he fails to satisfy the conditions in regulation 5(8) or, as the case may be, (9) (circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as occupying a dwelling as his home).
(3) A child or young person shall not be treated as a member of the claimant’s household where he is–
(a)boarded out with the claimant or his partner under a relevant enactment; or
(b)boarded out with the claimant or his partner prior to adoption; or
(c)placed for adoption with the claimant or his partner pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Agencies Regulations 1983(1) or the Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 1984(2).
(4) Subject to paragraph (5), paragraph (1) shall not apply to a child or young person who is not living with the claimant and he–
(a)is in the care of a local authority under a relevant enactment; or
(b)has been boarded out with a person other than the claimant prior to adoption; or
(c)has been placed for adoption pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Agencies Regulations 1983 or the Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 1984.
(5) An authority shall treat a child or young person to whom paragraph (4)(a) applies as being a member of the claimant’s household in any benefit week where–
(a)that child or young person lives with the claimant for part or all of that benefit week; and
(b)the authority considers that it is reasonable to do so taking into account the nature and frequency of that child’s or young person’s visits.
(6) In this regulation “relevant enactment” means the Army Act 1955(3), the Air Force Act 1955(4), the Naval Discipline Act 1957(5), the Adoption Act 1958(6), the Matrimonial Proceedings Children Act 1958(7), the Children Act 1958(8), the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968(9), the Family Law Reform Act 1969(10), the Children and Young Persons Act 1969(11), the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973(12), the Guardianship Act 1973(13), the Children Act 1975(14), the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 1978(15), the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978(16), the Child Care Act 1980(17) and the Foster Children Act 1980(18).