The Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Effective date for late notifications of change of circumstances

8.—(1) For the purposes of regulation 7(2), a longer period of time may be allowed for the notification of a change of circumstances in so far as it affects the effective date of the change where the conditions specified in the following provisions of this regulation are satisfied.

(2) An application for the purposes of regulation 7(2) shall be made by the claimant or a person acting on his behalf.

(3) The application referred to in paragraph (2) shall—

(a) contain particulars of the relevant change of circumstances and the reasons for the failure to notify the change of circumstances on an earlier date; and

(b) be made within 13 months of the date the change occurred.

(4) An application under this regulation shall not be granted unless the Department is satisfied that—

(a) it is reasonable to grant the application;

(b) the change of circumstances notified by the applicant is relevant to the decision which is to be superseded; and

(c) special circumstances are relevant to the application and as a result of those special circumstances it was not practicable for the applicant to notify the change of circumstances within one month of the change occurring.

(5) In determining whether it is reasonable to grant an application, the Department shall have regard to the principle that the greater the amount of time that has elapsed between the date one month after the change of circumstances occurred and the date on which the application for the purposes of regulation 7(2) is made, the more compelling should be the special circumstances on which the application is based.

(6) In determining whether it is reasonable to grant an application, no account shall be taken of the following—

(a) that the applicant or any person acting for him was unaware of, or misunderstood, the law applicable to his case (including ignorance or misunderstanding of the time limits imposed by these Regulations); or

(b) that a Commissioner or a court has taken a different view of the law from that previously understood and applied.

(7) An application under this regulation which has been refused may not be renewed.

(8) In this regulation “Commissioner” includes a Commissioner within the meaning of section 39(1) of the Social Security Act 1998.