Amendment of the Housing Benefit (Supply of Information) Regulations 19882

1

The Housing Benefit (Supply of Information) Regulations 19884 shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

2

In regulation 1(2) (interpretation)–

a

for the definition of “claimant” there shall be substituted the following definition–

  • “claimant” means a person by whom or in respect of whom a claim for housing benefit has been made;

b

after the definition of “claimant” there shall be inserted the following definition–

  • “family” has the meaning assigned to it in section 137(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19925;

3

In regulation 2(1)(k) (information to be supplied by the Secretary of State to an authority)–

a

in head (i) for the words “calculation and recovery” there shall be substituted the words “detection, investigation, calculation, recovery and prevention”;

b

in head (ii) for the words “the investigation” there shall be substituted the words “the detection, investigation”.

4

a

Regulation 3 (information to be supplied by an authority to the Secretary of State) shall be renumbered paragraph (1) of regulation 3.

b

In sub–paragraph (c) of paragraph (1) of regulation 3–

i

in head (i) for the words “calculation and recovery” there shall be substituted the words “detection, investigation, calculation, recovery and prevention”;

ii

in head (ii) for the words “the investigation” there shall be substituted the words “the detection, investigation”;

iii

in head (iii) the full stop shall be replaced by a comma;

iv

after head (iii) there shall be added the words–

including, in so far as it is required by the Secretary of State for any such purpose, any of the information specified in paragraph (2) (“the specified information”).

c

After paragraph (1) of regulation 3 there shall be added the following paragraph–

2

The specified information referred to in paragraph (1) is–

a

the name, date of birth, national insurance number and sex of any claimant and of any member of the claimant’s family;

b

the address of any claimant and any previous address of his during the 3 years preceding the date on which such information is supplied;

c

whether the claim of any claimant has been determined and, if so, whether housing benefit has been awarded;

d

where the claimant is entitled to housing benefit, the manner in which it is paid to him;

e

where a claimant has a bank account or building society account, particulars of that account;

f

the name and address of any employer of a claimant;

g

particulars of the income and capital of any claimant and of any member of the claimant’s family;

h

the name and address of the landlord of any claimant and of any agent acting on behalf of the landlord in respect of the management of the dwelling which the claimant occupies as his home.