The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Amendment of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations

3.—(1) The Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(1) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (7).

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—

(a) after the definition of “course of study” there shall be inserted the following definitions—

““Crown property” means property held by Her Majesty in right of the Crown or by a government department or which is held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a government department, except (in the case of an interest held by Her Majesty in right of the Crown) where the interest is under the management of the Crown Estate Commissioners;

“Crown Estate Commissioners” have the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act 1978(2);”;

(b) in the definition of “young individual”(3)—

(i) in paragraph (b) after “1968” there shall be inserted “or who has ceased to be subject to a care order pursuant to Article 50(1)(a) of the Children Order”;

(ii) for paragraph (c) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(c) who has not attained the age of 22 years and was formerly provided with accommodation under Article 21 of the Children Order.”.

(3) In regulation 15 (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as being or not being a member of the household)—

(a) in paragraph (3) for sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraphs—

“(a) placed with the claimant or his partner by an authority, as defined in Article 2 of the Children Order, under Article 27(2)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation and maintenance by an authority for children whom it is looking after) or by a voluntary organisation under Article 75(1)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation by voluntary organisations);

(b) placed with the claimant or his partner prior to adoption, or

(c) placed for adoption with the claimant or his partner pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989.”;

(b) in paragraph (4) for sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraphs—

“(a) is being looked after by an authority, as defined in Article 2 of the Children Order, under a relevant enactment;

(b) has been placed with a person other than the claimant prior to adoption, or

(c) has been placed for adoption pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989.”;

(c) in paragraph (6) at the end there shall be added “, the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 and the Children Order.”.

(4) In regulation 21A(2)(4) (treatment of child care charges) in the definition of “relevant child care charges” for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—

“(a) by persons registered under Article 118 of the Children Order (registration of child-minders and persons providing day care);

(b) by a child care scheme operating on Crown property where registration under Article 118 of the Children Order is not required, or

(c) in schools or establishments which are exempted from registration under Article 118 of the Children Order by virtue of Article 121(1) to (3) of that Order,”.

(5) In regulation 48A(2)(5) (full-time students to be treated as not liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling) for sub-paragraph (d) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(d) who is a single claimant with whom a child is—

(i) placed by an authority, as defined in Article 2 of the Children Order, by virtue of arrangements made under Article 27(2)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation and maintenance by an authority for children whom it is looking after) or by a voluntary organisation under Article 75(1)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation by voluntary organisations), or

(ii) boarded out under paragraph 6, 7 or 8 of Schedule 5 to the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 by a training school within the meaning of section 137 of that Act;”.

(6) In Schedule 4 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings)—

(a) in paragraph 25(1)(6) for heads (a) and (b) there shall be substituted the following heads—

“(a) in accordance with regulations made under Article 59A of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 (permitted allowances);

(b) in accordance with regulations made under section 57A of the Adoption Act 1976 (permitted allowances) or with a scheme approved by the Secretary of State under section 51 of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 (schemes for payment of allowances to adoptors);”;

(b) for paragraph 26(7) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“26.   Any payment made by—

(a) an authority to a person who is caring for a child by virtue of arrangements made under Article 27(2)(a) of the Children Order (provision of accommodation and maintenance by an authority for children whom it is looking after) or by a voluntary organisation under Article 75(1)(a) of that Order (provision of accommodation by voluntary organisations), or

(b) a training school, within the meaning of section 137 of the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (approval of schools), under paragraph 14(2) of Schedule 5 to that Act to a person who is caring for a child and with whom that child lives or is boarded out under paragraph 6, 7 or 8 of Schedule 5 to that Act.”;

(c) in paragraph 27(8) for “a Health and Social Services Board, HSS trust” there shall be substituted “an authority”;

(d) for paragraph 28(9) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“28.   Any payment made by an authority under Article 18, 35 or 36 of the Children Order (general duty of an authority to promote the welfare of children and powers to grant financial assistance to persons looked after or in, or formerly in, its care).”;

(e) after paragraph 28 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“28A.   In paragraphs 26 to 28 “an authority” has the same meaning as in Article 2 of the Children Order.”.

(7) In Schedule 5 (capital to be disregarded) for paragraph 18(10) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“18.   Any payment made by an authority, as defined in Article 2 of the Children Order, under Article 18, 35 or 36 of that Order (general duty of an authority to promote the welfare of children and powers to grant financial assistance to persons looked after or in, or formerly in, its care).”.

(1)

S.R. 1987 No. 461; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 1989 Nos. 260 and 366, S.R. 1990 No. 297, S.R. 1994 Nos. 65 and 274, S.R. 1995 No. 89 and S.R. 1996 Nos. 181, 405 and 476

(2)

1978 c. 30

(3)

The definition of “young individual” was inserted by regulation 2 of S.R. 1996 No. 181 and substituted by regulation 4(2)(c) of S.R. 1996 No. 405

(4)

Regulation 21A was inserted by regulation 2(3) of S.R. 1994 No. 274 and the definition of “relevant child care charges” was amended by regulation 6 of S.R. 1995 No. 89 and regulation 3(2) of S.R. 1996 No. 476

(5)

Regulation 48A was inserted by regulation 3(6) of S.R. 1990 No. 297 and paragraph (2)(d) was amended by paragraph 1(d) of Schedule 13 to S.R. 1994 No. 65

(6)

Paragraph 25(1) was substituted by regulation 3 of S.R. 1989 No. 366

(7)

Paragraph 26 was amended by paragraph 1(e) of Schedule 13 to S.R. 1994 No. 65

(8)

Paragraph 27 was amended by paragraph 1(e) of Schedule 13 to S.R. 1994 No. 65

(9)

Paragraph 28 was substituted by regulation 6 of S.R. 1989 No. 260 and amended by paragraph 1(f) of Schedule 13 to S.R. 1994 No. 65

(10)

Paragraph 18 was substituted by regulation 7 of S.R. 1989 No. 260 and amended by paragraph 1(g) of Schedule 13 to S.R. 1994 No. 65