(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend regulation 62 of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 1986 (“the 1986 Regulations”) to take account of changes made by the Disability Living Allowance and the Disability Working Allowance Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”).
Regulation 62 of the 1986 Regulations prescribes the requirements for applications for an absent vote for an indefinite period at parliamentary and local government elections on the ground set out in section 6(2)(b) of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50) (“the 1985 Act”) which is that the applicant cannot reasonably be expected to go in person to his allotted polling station or to vote unaided there because of blindness or other physical incapacity. Most such applications need to be attested in accordance with regulation 62(2) and (3). Regulation 62(4) currently disapplies this requirement where either the application is based on the applicant being a registered blind person as attested by the relevant local authority or a local society for the blind or the applicant is in receipt of a mobility allowance under section 37A of the Social Security Act 1975 and the reference number of such an allowance is given in the application. Under regulation 62(5) the fact that the applicant is so registered or is in receipt of such an allowance is deemed to be sufficient evidence of eligibility under section 6(2)(b) of the 1985 Act.
Section 1 of the 1991 Act replaced the mobility allowance with a new allowance: the disability living allowance which consists of a care component and a mobility component. Under the Disability Living Allowance and Disability Working Allowance Act 1991 (Com mencement No. 2) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/2617), this provision will come into force on 6th April 1992. These Regulations amend regulation 62 of the 1986 Regulations to take account of these changes (including the fact that, unlike the mobility allowance, each disability living allowance does not, as such, have a reference number).