The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Subsidy) Regulations 1994

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE Prescribed particulars relating to claims for housing benefit subsidy and council tax benefit subsidy for the relevant year

1.  The total rent rebate and total rent allowance expenditure in the relevant year.

2.  The total rent rebate expenditure in the relevant year in cases to which paragraph 20 below refers, which is attributable to that part of the eligible rent which exceeds the relevant threshold specified in a Subsidy Order for the purpose of calculating subsidy on such rents.

3.  The total rent rebate expenditure in the relevant year in respect of rents payable to an authority—

(a) under section 69(2)(b) of the Housing Act 1985(1) or section 35(2)(b) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987(2) for board and lodging accommodation or accommodation which the authority holds on a licence agreement, or

(b) for accommodation outside the Housing Revenue Account under Part VI of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989(3), which an authority in England or Wales holds on a lease granted for a term not exceeding 3 years, or

(c) for accommodation which an authority in Scotland holds on a lease granted for a term not exceeding 3 years.

4.  The total rent rebate expenditure in the relevant year in cases to which paragraph 3 above refers which is attributable to that part of the eligible rent which exceeds the relevant threshold specified in a Subsidy Order for the purpose of calculating subsidy on such rents.

5.  The total number of awards of each of rent rebates, rent allowances, community charge benefits and council tax benefit in the relevant year made in respect of periods before the date of a person’s claim where there is a good cause for the claim not having been made at an earlier date and the total amount awarded for those periods of each of such rebates, allowances and benefits.

6.—(1) Where any excess awards to which sub-paragraph (2) below applies have been made in the circumstances specified in sub-paragraph (3) below, the total number and the amounts of those awards and the circumstances in which they were made.

(2) This paragraph applies to awards of—

(a) housing benefit by way of rent rebates;

(b) housing benefit by way of rent allowances;

(c) housing benefit by way of community charge rebates;

(d) community charge benefits; and

(e) council tax benefit,

which are identified in the relevant year.

(3) The circumstances specified in this sub-paragraph are—

(a) departmental error;

(b) error of the authority making the payment and claiming subsidy;

(c) technical overpayments and technical excess benefits;

(d) errors of claimants;

(e) fraudulent overpayments and fraudulent excess benefits;

(g) duplicate payments following non-receipt, loss or theft of benefit where the original instrument of payment has been encashed; and

(h) any other excess awards.

(4) In this paragraph “departmental error”, “error of the authority making the payment andclaiming subsidy”, “technical overpayments”, “technical excess benefits”, “fraudulent overpayments” and “fraudulent excess benefits” have the meanings assigned to them by article 10 or article 18, as the case may be, of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Subsidy) Order 1994.

7.  The total amount of overpayments of housing benefit made under the Housing BenefitRegulations 1985(4) which are recovered in the relevant year from claimants to whom regulation 24 of those Regulations (persons in receipt of supplementary benefit) applied.

8.  The total amount of excess awards in the relevant year in consequence of departmental error which are recovered in the relevant year.

9.  The total number and total amount of awards of benefit backdated in the relevant year under each of regulation 72(15) of the 1987 Regulations, regulation 60(18) of the 1989 Regulations and regulation 62(16) of the 1992 Regulations (backdated awards of benefit), as the case may be, which are excess awards.

10.  The total rent allowance expenditure in the relevant year attributable to each of—

(a) that part of any weekly eligible rents which exceeds any relevant threshold specified in a Subsidy Order for the purpose of calculating subsidy on such rents;

(b) that part of any weekly eligible rents which were at or below any such threshold; and

(c) that part of any weekly eligible rents to which any such threshold did not apply excluding cases which have been referred to a rent officer for a determination under section 121 of the Housing Act 1988(5).

11.  The total rent allowance expenditure in the relevant year not attributable to any excess of eligible rent over the threshold in cases to which paragraph 10(a) above refers.

12.  The total rent allowance expenditure in the relevant year attributable to tenancies which are liable to determinations of the rent officer of the rent which a landlord might reasonably expect to obtain made under Schedule 1 of the Rent Officers (Additional Functions) Order 1990(6) or the Rent Officers (Additional Functions) (Scotland) Order 1990(7), as the case may be.

13.  The total rent allowance expenditure in the relevant year, which is attributable to each of—

(a) weekly eligible rents which do not exceed any determination of a rent officer of a reasonable market rent or notional rent, under the Orders to which paragraph 12 above refers;

(b) the difference between the reasonable market rent for the accommodation and the comparable rent for suitably sized properties in cases where the rent officer has determined that accommodation is unreasonably large and is paid for a period of up to 13 calendar weeks;

(c) that part of the weekly eligible rents which exceeded the rent officer’s determination of a reasonable market rent or notional rent, in respect of which no restriction under regulation 11 (restrictions on unreasonable payments) or regulation 12 (restrictions on rent increases) of the 1987 Regulations would be made other than expenditure to which sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph refers;

(d) that part of the weekly eligible rents which exceeded a rent officer’s determination of a reasonable market rent or notional rent, but excluding amounts to which sub-paragraphs (b) or (c) of this paragraph refer;

(e) the eligible rents in respect of deregulated housing association tenancies not referred to the rent officer; and

(f) cases subject to referral to the rent officer for a determination but where no such determination has been obtained.

14.  The total council tax benefit expenditure in the relevant year.

15.  The total expenditure in the relevant year in respect of discretionary increases of benefit where modifications of the 1987 Regulations have been made in accordance with section 134(8) of the Act or modifications of the 1989 or 1992 Regulations have been made in accordance with section 139(6) of the Act(8).

16.  The total expenditure in the relevant year in respect of increases of benefit under each of regulation 61(2) or 69(8) of the 1987 Regulations(9) and regulation 60 of the 1992 Regulations (increases of weekly benefit for exceptional circumstances), as the case may be.

17.  The total amount of any instruments of payment in relation to housing benefit, community charge benefit or council tax benefit issued during the relevant year returned to the authority without having been presented for payment or found by the authority to have passed their date of validity without having been so presented.

18.  The total amount of any housing benefit subsidy or community charge benefit subsidy paid for any year before the relevant year in respect of any instrument of payment either returned to the authority during the relevant year without having been presented for payment or found by the authority during the relevant year to have passed their date of validity without having been so presented.

19.  The total number of benefit weeks and of overrun weeks, if any, in the relevant year, in the case of each of—

(a) rent rebates;

(b) rent allowances; and

(c) council tax benefit.

20.  In respect of tenants or dwellings, as the case may be, of a local authority in Scotland, of a New Town Corporation established under the New Towns Act 1981(10) or the New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968(11) and of the Development Board for Rural Wales—

(a) the average rent payable in respect of Category 1 dwellings and Category 2 dwellings respectively on the second relevant date and the third relevant date; and

(b) the average rent payable by Category A tenants and Category B tenants respectively on the first relevant date and the second relevant date.

21.  The total amount obtained in the relevant year of each of—

(a) housing benefit savings;

(b) council tax benefit savings; and

(c) related income support savings.

(1)

1985 c. 68.

(2)

1987 c. 26.

(3)

1989 c. 42.

(4)

S.I. 1985/677; the powers under which these Regulations were made was repealed by the Social Security Act 1986 (c. 50), section 86(2) and Schedule 11, but were continued in force (in part) by the Housing Benefit (Transitional) Regulations (S.I. 1987/1972).

(5)

1988 c. 50.

(6)

S.I. 1990/428; Schedule 1 was amended by S.I. 1991/426 and 1993/652.

(7)

S.I. 1990/396; Schedule 1 was amended by S.I. 1991/533 and 1993/646.

(8)

Section 139(6) was amended by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 103, Schedule 9, paragraph 20(5).

(9)

Regulation 61(2) replaces regulation 69(8) with the coming into force of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/527).

(10)

1981 c. 64.

(11)

1968 c. 16.