The State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Income for the purposes of the Act

15.—(1) For the purposes of section 15(1)(e) of the Act (income and capital), all social security benefits are prescribed except –

(a) disability living allowance;

(b) attendance allowance payable under section 64 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

(c) an increase of disablement pension under section 104 or 105 of that Act;

(d) a payment under regulations made in exercise of the power conferred by paragraph 4(2)(b) of Part II of Schedule 8 to that Act(1);

(e) an increase of an allowance payable in respect of constant attendance under paragraph 4 of Part II of Schedule 8 to that Act;

(f) any child special allowance payable under section 56 of that Act;

(g) any guardian’s allowance payable under section 77 of that Act;

(h) any increase for a dependant, other than the claimant’s partner, payable in accordance with Part IV of that Act;

(i) any social fund payment made under Part VIII of that Act;

(j) child benefit payable in accordance with Part IX of that Act;

(k) Christmas bonus payable under Part X of that Act;

(l) housing benefit;

(m) bereavement payment(2);

(n) statutory sick pay;

(o) statutory maternity pay;

(p) statutory paternity pay payable under Part XIIZA of the Contributions and Benefits Act(3);

(q) statutory adoption pay payable under Part XIIZB of the Contributions and Benefits Act(4);

(r) any benefit similar to those mentioned in the preceding provisions of this paragraph payable under legislation having effect in Great Britain.

(2) For the purposes of section 15(1)(f) of the Act (foreign social security benefits), income includes all foreign social security benefits which are similar to the social security benefits prescribed under paragraph (1).

(3) Where the payment of any social security benefit prescribed under paragraph (1) is subject to any deduction (other than an adjustment specified in paragraph (4)) the amount to be taken into account under paragraph (1) shall be the amount before the deduction is made.

(4) The adjustments specified in this paragraph are those made in accordance with –

(a) the Social Security (Overlapping Benefits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1979(5);

(b) the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1975;

(c) section 30DD (incapacity benefit: reduction for pension payments) or section 30E (incapacity benefit: rate) of the Contributions and Benefits Act(6).

(5) For the purposes of section 15(1)(j) of the Act (income to include income of prescribed descriptions), income of the following descriptions is prescribed –

(a) any payment made under Article 37 of the Naval, Military and Air Forces etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983(7);

(b) a pension paid to victims of National Socialist persecution under any special provision made by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany, or any part of it, or of the Republic of Austria;

(c) payments under a scheme made under the Pneumoconiosis, etc., (Workers' Compensation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1979(8);

(d) payments made towards the maintenance of the claimant by his spouse or former spouse or towards the maintenance of the claimant’s partner by his spouse or former spouse, including payments made –

(i) under a court order;

(ii) under an agreement for maintenance, or

(iii) voluntarily;

(e) payments due from any person in respect of board and lodging accommodation provided by the claimant, and for this purpose “board and lodging accommodation” has the same meaning as in paragraph 8(2) of Schedule 4;

(f) payments consisting of royalties or other sums received as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright, patent or trademark, and

(g) any payment made to the claimant in respect of any book registered under the Public Lending Right Scheme 1982(9).

(6) For the purposes of section 15(2) of the Act, a claimant’s capital, other than capital disregarded under Schedule 5, shall be deemed to yield a weekly income –

(a) in the case of a claimant residing permanently in accommodation to which paragraph (7) applies, of £1 for each £500 in excess of £10,000 and £1 for any excess which is not a complete £500;

(b) in any other case, of £1 for each £500 in excess of £6,000 and £1 for any excess which is not a complete £500.

(7) This paragraph applies to accommodation provided –

(a) in a residential care home or nursing home;

(b) in an establishment run by the Abbeyfield Society (including all bodies corporate or incorporate which are affiliated to the Society);

(c) under Article 15 of the 1972 Order(10) where –

(i) the home in which the accommodation is provided is either owned and managed or owned or managed by a Health and Social Services Board or an HSS trust, and

(ii) the claimant occupies the accommodation other than on a temporary basis.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (6), a person shall be treated as residing permanently in the accommodation –

(a) except where sub-paragraph (b) applies, notwithstanding that he is absent from it for a period not exceeding 52 weeks;

(b) if it is accommodation to which paragraph (7)(c) applies –

(i) notwithstanding that he is absent from it for a period not exceeding 13 weeks, and

(ii) if he, with the agreement of the manager of the home, intends to return to it in due course.

(1)

See in particular paragraph 4(2)(b) of Schedule 8

(2)

Bereavement payment was introduced by Article 51 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3147 (N.I. 11))

(3)

Part XIIZA was inserted by Article 5 of the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/2836 (N.I. 2))

(4)

Part XIIZB was inserted by Article 6 of the Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002

(5)

S.R. 1979 No. 242

(6)

Section 30DD was inserted by Article 60 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 and section 30E was inserted by Article 5(1) of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 (S.I. 1994/1898 (N.I. 12))

(7)

S.I. 1983/883

(8)

S.I. 1979/925 (N.I. 9); amended by section 22 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (S.I. 1985/1209 (N.I. 16))

(9)

The Scheme is set out in the Appendix to S.I. 1982/719

(10)

Article 15 was extended by sections 1 and 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 and amended by Schedule 5 to the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 and paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 1 to the Registered Homes (Northern Ireland) Order 1992