The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006.

With regard only to the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, these Regulations make amendments so as to change the form in which housing benefit is paid to persons living in caravans or mobile homes on rented sites, or houseboats in certain circumstances, and to make new provision with respect to gypsies and travellers.

Regulation 2(2) amends the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 to change the form in which housing benefit is paid in certain cases where a person pays a rent in respect of the site on which a caravan or mobile home stands, or charges for the mooring to which a houseboat is attached, and also separately pays a rent in respect of that caravan or mobile home on that site or houseboat attached to that mooring.

The amendment provides for the housing benefit payable by a housing authority in respect of site or mooring charges for housing authority owned sites or moorings to be paid in the form of rent allowance instead of rent rebate. The effect is that housing benefit in the form of a rent allowance is payable for caravans, mobile homes or houseboats and also their sites or moorings.

Regulation 2(3) amends paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Benefit Regulations so as to exclude caravan and mobile home sites owned and run by county councils for gypsies and travellers, and also caravans and mobile homes that are provided by county councils on those sites, from the general requirement in regulation 14 to refer claims for a rent allowance to a rent officer. A further amendment is made so that payments of housing benefit by a housing authority for housing authority owned sites or moorings that take the form of rent allowance in accordance with the changes in regulation 2(2) shall also be excluded from the requirement to refer to a rent officer. These tenancies will still be referred to a rent officer in exceptional cases.

Regulation 3 makes equivalent changes to the corresponding provisions of the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006.

Regulation 4 amends the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 as follows:

• regulation 101 is amended so as to set out more clearly from whom an overpayment is recoverable;

• regulation 102 is amended to permit recovery of an overpayment, where the claimant has one or more partners, by deduction from any housing benefit payable to the partner or where the relevant authority is unable to do so, from the benefits prescribed in regulation 105, provided that they were a couple both at the time of the overpayment and when the deduction is made; and

• regulation 105 is amended so as to insert prescribed benefits from which recovery may be sought from the claimant’s partner.

Regulation 5 makes equivalent amendments to regulations 82, 83 and 86 of the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006.

Regulation 6 amends the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 as follows:

• regulation 85 is amended so as to omit recovery of excess benefit by deduction from council tax benefit allowed to the claimant’s partner;

• regulation 86 is amended so that where a claimant has one or more partners, recovery of excess benefit may now be made by deduction from the prescribed benefits specified in regulation 90 provided that the claimant and that partner were a couple both at the time the excess benefit was allowed and when the deduction is made; and

• Regulation 90 is amended so as to insert prescribed benefits from which recovery may be sought from the claimant’s partner.

Regulation 7 makes equivalent amendments to regulations 70, 71 and 75 of the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006.

Regulation 8 omits regulation 64(13) of the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 as this provision is no longer needed.

Regulation 9 amends the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006. Regulation 9(2) amends the time for claiming council tax benefit set out in regulation 53(1ZA) of those Regulations from 12 months to 3 months. Regulation 9(3) omits regulation 53(13) of those Regulations as this provision is no longer needed.

A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the private or voluntary sectors. There is no additional impact on the public sector.