The Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992

PART I General

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 and shall come into force—

(a) for the purposes of regulations 1, 2, 61 to 65, 92 and 93 on 17th August 1992;

(b) for all other purposes on 1st April 1993.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the 1992 Act” means the Local Government Finance Act 1992;

“the Administration Act 1992” means the Social Security Administration Act 1992;

“the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“alternative maximum council tax benefit” means the amount determined in accordance with regulation 54 and Schedule 2;

“appropriate authority” means—

(a)

in England and Wales, the billing authority to which Part I of the 1992 Act refers,

(b)

in Scotland, the levying authority to which Part II of the 1992 Act refers;

“appropriate social security office” means an office of the Department of Social Security which is normally open to the public for the receipt of claims for income support and includes an office of the Department of Employment which is normally open to the public for the receipt of claims for unemployment benefit;

“assessment period” means such period as is prescribed in regulations 14 to 16 over which income falls to be calculated;

“attendance allowance” means—

(a)

an attendance allowance under Part III of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

(b)

an increase of disablement pension under section 104 of that Act;

(c)

a payment under regulations made in exercise of the power conferred by paragraph 7(2)(b) of Schedule 8 to that Act (constant attendance allowance);

(d)

an increase of an allowance which is payable in respect of constant attendance under paragraph 4 of Schedule 8 to that Act;

(e)

a payment by virtue of article 14, 15, 16, 43 or 44 of the Personal Injuries (Civilians) Scheme 1983(1) or any analogous payment;

(f)

any payment based on need for attendance which is paid as part of a war disablement pension;

“benefit period” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 57;

“benefit week” means a period of 7 consecutive days commencing on a Monday and ending on a Sunday;

“boarder” means a person who pays a charge for his accommodation and at least some cooked or prepared meals which are both prepared and consumed in that accommodation or associated premises;

“child” means a person under the age of 16;

“claim” means a claim for council tax benefit;

“claimant” means a person claiming council tax benefit;

“close relative” means a parent, parent-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughterin-law, step-parent, step-ston, step-daughter, brother, sister or the spouse of any of the preceding persons or, if that person is one of an unmarried couple, the other member of that couple;

“community charge benefit” means the benefit to which section 123(1)(e) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 refers;

“concessionary payment” means a payment made under arrangements made by the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury which is charged either to the National Insurance Fund or to a Departmental Expenditure Vote to which payments of benefit under the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 are charged;

“council tax benefit” means council tax benefit under Part VII of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(2);

“designated office” means the office designated by the appropriate authority, by way of notice upon a form approved by them, for the purpose of claiming council tax benefit and for the receipt of claims to council tax benefit;

“disability living allowance” means a disability living allowance under Part III of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“disability working allowance” means a disability working allowance under section 123 of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“dwelling” has the same meaning as in section 3 or 72 of the 1992 Act;

“earnings” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 19 or, as the case may be, 21;

“eligible rent” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 10 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987(3) (rent);

“employed earner” is to be construed in accordance with section 2(1)(a) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“family” has the meaning assigned to it by section 137(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“housing benefit” means housing benefit under Part VII of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“invalid carriage or other vehicle” means a vehicle propelled by a petrol engine or by electric power supplied for use on the road and to be controlled by the occupant;

“lone parent” means a person who has no partner and who is responsible for and a member of the same household as a child or young person;

“married couple” has the meaning assigned to it by section 137(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“member of a couple” means a member of a married or unmarried couple;

“mobility supplement” means a supplement to which paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 refers;

“net earnings” means such earnings as are calculated in accordance with regulation 20;

“net profit” means such profit as is calculated in accordance with regulation 22;

“non-dependant” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 3;

“occupational pension” means any pension or other periodical payment under an occupational pension scheme but does not include any discretionary payment out of a fund established for relieving hardship in particular cases;

“partner”, means—

(a)

where a claimant is a member of a married or unmarried couple, the other member of that couple; or

(b)

where a claimant is polygamously married to two or more members of his household, any such member to whom he is married;

“payment” includes part of a payment;

“person affected” means any person (including the appropriate authority) whose rights, duties or obligations are affected by a determination, whether or not on review, or by a decision on further review;

“person on income support” means a person in receipt of income support;

“policy of life insurance” means any instrument by which the payment of money is assured on death (except death by accident only) or by the happening of any contingency dependent on human life, or any instrument evidencing a contract which is subject to payment of premiums for a term dependent on human life;

“polygamous marriage” means a marriage to which section 133(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 refers;

“qualifying person” means a person in respect of whom payment has been made from the Fund;

“remunerative work” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 4;

“resident” has the meaning as in Part I or II of the 1992 Act;

“review board” means a board constituted in accordance with regulation 70(3) and Schedule 7;

“second adult” has the meaning given to it in Schedule 2;

“self-employed earner” is to be construed in accordance with section 2(1)(b) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“single claimant” means a claimant who neither has a partner nor is a lone parent;

“student” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 38;

“supplementary benefit” means a supplementary pension or allowance under section 1 or 4 of the Supplementary Benefit Act 1976(4);

“the Fund” means moneys made available from time to time by the Secretary of State for the benefit of persons eligible for payment in accordance with the provisions of a scheme established by him on 24th April 1992 or, in Scotland, on 10th April 1992;

“the Independent Living Fund” means the charitable trust established out of funds provided by the Secretary of State for the purpose of providing financial assistance to those persons incapacitated by or otherwise suffering from very severe disablement who are in need of such assistance to enable them to live independently;

“the Trusts” means

(a)

“the Macfarlane Trust”, established partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State to the Haemophilia Society, for the relief of poverty or distress among those suffering from haemophilia;

(b)

“the Macfarlane (Special Payments) Trust” established on 29th January 1990 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from haemophilia;

(c)

“the Macfarlane (Special Payments) (No. 2) Trust”, established on 3rd May 1991 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from haemophilia and other beneficiaries;

“training allowance” means an allowance (whether by way of periodical grants or otherwise) payable—

(a)

out of public funds by a Government department or by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise;

(b)

to a person for his maintenance or in respect of a member of his family; and

(c)

for the period, or part of the period, during which he is following a course of training or instruction provided by, or in pursuance of arrangements made with, that department or approved by that department in relation to him or so provided or approved by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise,

but it does not include an allowance paid by any Government department to or in respect of a person by reason of the fact that he is following a course of full-time education other than under arrangements made under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973(5) or is training as a teacher;

“unmarried couple” has the meaning assigned to it by section 137(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“water charges” means—

(a)

as respects England and Wales, any water charges under Chapter IV of Part II of the Water Act 1989(6),

(b)

as respects Scotland, any water charges under Schedule 11 to the 1992 Act,

in so far as such charges are in respect of the dwelling which a person occupies as his home;

“year of assessment” has the meaning prescribed in section 832(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988(7);

“young person” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 5(1).

(2) In Schedule 5 references to a claimant occupying a dwelling or premises as his home shall be construed in accordance with regulation 5 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987(8).

(3) In these Regulations, where an amount is to be rounded to the nearest penny, a fraction of a penny shall be disregarded if it is less than half a penny and shall otherwise be treated as a whole penny.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations, two persons shall be taken to be estranged only if their estrangement constitutes a breakdown of the relationship between them.

(5) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference—

(a) to a numbered Part is to the Part of these Regulations bearing that number;

(b) to a numbered regulation or Schedule is to the regulation in, or the Schedule to, these Regulations bearing that number;

(c) in a regulation or Schedule to a numbered paragraph is to the paragraph in that regulation or Schedule bearing that number;

(d) in a paragraph to a lettered or numbered sub-paragraph is to the sub-paragraph in that paragraph bearing that letter or number.

Definition of non-dependant

3.—(1) In these Regulations, “non-dependant” means any person, except someone to whom paragraph (2) applies, who normally resides with a claimant.

(2) This paragraph applies to—

(a) any member of the claimant’s family;

(b) if the claimant is polygamously married, any partner of his and any child or young person who is a member of his household and for whom he or one of his partners is responsible;

(c) a child or young person who is living with the claimant but who is not a member of his household by virtue of regulation 7 (membership of the same household);

(d) subject to paragraph (3), any person who, with the claimant, is jointly and severally liable to pay council tax in respect of a dwelling for any day under sections 6, 7 or 75 of the 1992 Act (persons liable to pay council tax);

(e) subject to paragraph (3), any person who is liable to make payments on a commercial basis to the claimant or the claimant’s partner in respect of the occupation of the dwelling;

(f) a person who lives with the claimant in order to care for him or a partner of his and who is engaged by a charitable or voluntary body (other than a public or local authority) which makes a charge to the claimant or his partner for the services provided by that person.

(3) Excepting persons to whom paragraph (2)(a) to (c) and (f) refer, a person to whom any of the following sub-paragraphs applies shall be a non-dependant—

(a) a person who resides with the person to whom he is liable to make payments in respect of the dwelling and either—

(i) that person is a close relative of his or his partner, or

(ii) the tenancy or other agreement between them is other than on a commercial basis;

(b) a person whose liability to make payments in respect of the dwelling appears to the appropriate authority to have been created to take advantage of the council tax benefit scheme except someone who was, for any period within the eight weeks prior to the creation of the agreement giving rise to the liability to make such payments, otherwise liable to make payments of rent in respect of the same dwelling;

(c) a person who becomes jointly and severally liable with the claimant for council tax in respect of a dwelling and who was, at any time during the period of eight weeks prior to his becoming so liable, a non-dependant of one or more of the other residents in that dwelling who are so liable for the tax, unless the appropriate authority is satisfied that the change giving rise to the new liability was not made to take advantage of the council tax benefit scheme.

Remunerative work

4.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a person shall be treated for the purposes of these Regulations as engaged in remunerative work if he is engaged, or, where his hours of work fluctuate, he is engaged on average, for not less than 16 hours a week, in work for which payment is made or which is done in expectation of payment.

(2) In determining the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work where his hours of work fluctuate, regard shall be had to the average of hours worked over—

(a) if there is a recognisable cycle of work, the period of one complete cycle (including, where the cycle involves periods in which the person does no work, those periods but disregarding any other absences);

(b) in any other case, the period of 5 weeks immediately prior to the date of claim, or such other length of time as may, in the particular case, enable the person’s weekly average hours of work to be determined more accurately.

(3) Where no recognisable cycle has been established in respect of a person’s work, regard shall be had to the number of hours or, where those hours will fluctuate, the average of the hours, which he is expected to work in a week.

(4) A person shall be treated as engaged in remunerative work during any period for which he is absent from work referred to in paragraph (1) if the absence is either without good cause or by reason of a recognised, customary or other holiday.

(5) A person on income support for more than 3 days in any benefit week shall be treated as not being in remunerative work in that week.

(1)

S.I. 1983/686; the relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1983/1164 and 1984/1675.

(2)

1992 c. 4; council tax benefit was substituted for community charge benefit in Part VII by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) Schedule 9.

(3)

1987/1971; relevant amending instruments S.I. 1988/1971 and 1990/546.

(4)

1976 c. 71.

(5)

1973 c. 50; section 2 was substituted by section 25 of the Employment Act 1988 (c. 19).

(6)

1989 c. 15.

(7)

1988 c. 1.

(8)

S.I. 1987/1971; relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1988/1971, 1990/1017 and 1549, 1991/235 and 387.