Eligible children3.

(1)

For the purposes of paragraph 19B(2)(b) of Schedule 2 to the Act, the prescribed period is 13 weeks and the prescribed age is 14.

(2)

The following categories of children are not to be eligible children despite falling within paragraph 19B(2) of Schedule 2—

(a)

any child who has been looked after by a local authority in circumstances where the following conditions apply—

(i)

the local authority has arranged to place the child in a series of short-term placements none of which individually exceeds four weeks (even though they may amount in all to the prescribed period); and

(ii)

at the end of each such placement the child returns to the care of his or her parent, or a person who is not a parent but who has parental responsibility for the child,

(b)

any child who is subject to a care order, who, under arrangements made by a local authority looking after the child, has been living with a person falling within section 23(4) of the Act 8 for a period of six months or more.