Amendment of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987
2.—(1) The Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987(1) are amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.
(2) In regulation 19 (time for claiming benefit)(2)—
(a)in paragraph (3)(ga)(3) after “bereavement benefit” there shall be added “, except for a bereavement payment within the meaning of section 36 of the Contributions and Benefits Act”; and
(b)after paragraph (3) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—
“(3A) The prescribed time for claiming a bereavement payment is 12 months beginning with the day on which, apart from satisfying the condition of making a claim, the claimant is entitled to such a payment.”.
(3) Regulation 36 (payment to a partner as alternative payee)(4) shall be renumbered paragraph (1) of regulation 36 and there shall be added the following paragraph—
“(2) Where a person is entitled to a winter fuel payment within the meaning of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2000(5) and—
(a)that person is one of a married or unmarried couple or a member of a polygamous marriage;
(b)the other member of that couple or another member of that marriage (“the other person”) is in receipt of income support or an income-based jobseeker’s allowance; and
(c)both members of the couple or marriage are living together within the meaning of regulation 1(3)(b) of those Regulations(6),
the Secretary of State may pay the winter fuel payment to the other person on behalf of the person entitled to the payment as an alternative to paying the person entitled notwithstanding that the other person has not yet attained the age of 60 in the qualifying week.”.