Part 6 (Universal Credit: Payment to Joint Claimants)
134.The regulations described in section 94(6) allow the Secretary of State to make payments of universal credit into one bank account, for persons who are a couple (as defined by section 39 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012). That bank account may be chosen by the couple, but if they do not do so, the Secretary of State may choose it. Section 94 seeks to require the Scottish Ministers to bring forward regulations that would split universal credit payments between couples in Scotland, unless a couple choose to have payment into a single bank account. Those regulations would use the power that section 30 of the Scotland Act 2016 gives the Scottish Ministers, after consultation with the Secretary of State, to make regulations relating to the persons to whom universal credit is paid.
