The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Amendment of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations

4.—(1) The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (9).

(2) In regulation 104(1)(1) (capital treated as income) the words “£8,000 or, in a case where regulation 107(aa) (capital limit) applies, £12,000 or, in a case where regulation 107(b) applies,” shall be omitted.

(3) In regulation 105 (notional income)—

(a) in paragraph (2)(g) after “personal pension scheme” there shall be inserted “or occupational pension scheme”;

(b) before paragraph (3) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(2B) A claimant who has attained the age of 60 shall be treated as possessing—

(a) the amount of any income from an occupational pension scheme or personal pension scheme—

(i) for which no claim has been made, and

(ii) to which he might expect to be entitled if a claim for it were made;

(b) income from an occupational pension scheme which the claimant elected to defer,

but only from the date on which it could be expected to be acquired were an application for it to be made.”;

(c) in paragraph (3)—

(i) the words “, is a member of, or a person deriving entitlement to a pension under, a personal pension scheme, and” shall be omitted;

(ii) for sub-paragraph (a) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(a) is a person entitled to money purchase benefits under an occupational pension scheme, or under a personal pension scheme other than one referred to in sub-paragraph (b), and fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available in that scheme where—

(i) he defers, in whole or in part, the payment of any income which would have been payable to him by his pension fund holder;

(ii) he fails to take any necessary action to secure that the whole of any income which would be payable to him by his pension fund holder upon his applying for it, is so paid, or

(iii) income withdrawal is not available to him under that scheme; or”, and

(iii) in sub-paragraph (b)—

(aa) for “in the case of” there shall be substituted “is a party to, or a person deriving entitlement to a pension under,”;

(bb) for “he” there shall be substituted “and”; and

(cc) after “under that contract” there shall be inserted “or scheme”;

(d) in paragraph (5) for “personal pension scheme been held under a personal pension scheme” there shall be substituted “occupational or personal pension scheme been held under a scheme”;

(e) after paragraph (5) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(5A) In paragraph (3), “money purchase benefits” has the meaning it has in the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993.”; and

(f) at the end of paragraph (10)(2) after “any payment in kind” there shall be added “to the third party”.

(4) For regulation 107(3) (capital limit) there shall be substituted the following regulation—

“Capital limit

107.   For the purposes of Article 15(1) and (2A) of the Order (no entitlement to an income-based jobseeker’s allowance if capital exceeds a prescribed amount), the prescribed amount is £16,000.”.

(5) In regulation 113(2)(4) (notional capital) after sub-paragraph (d) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(da) an occupational pension scheme where the claimant is aged under 60; or”.

(6) In regulation 116(5) (calculation of tariff income from capital)—

(a) in paragraph (1)—

(i) the words “(1ZA) or” shall be omitted;

(ii) for “£3,000” (in both places where it occurs ) there shall be substituted “£6,000”, and

(iii) for “£8,000” there shall be substituted “£16,000”;

(b) paragraph (1ZA) shall be omitted; and

(c) in paragraphs (2) and (3) “, (1ZA)” shall be omitted.

(7) In Schedule 2 (housing costs) in paragraph 13(5)(a) and (c)(6) for “£8,000” there shall be substituted “£16,000”.

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

(a) in paragraph 22(7) after sub-paragraph (3) there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—

“(4) The reference in sub-paragraph (1) to “income in kind” does not include a payment to a third party made in respect of the claimant which is used by the third party to provide benefits in kind to the claimant.”;

(b) in paragraph 26—

(i) in sub-paragraph (1)(b)(8) for “in accordance with regulations made under section 57A of the Adoption Act 1976 (permitted allowances) or paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or” there shall be substituted “pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or in accordance”, and

(ii) for sub-paragraph (1A)(9) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(1A) Any payment, other than a payment to which sub-paragraph (1)(b) applies, made to the claimant pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.”; and

(c) for paragraph 56(10) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“56.   Any payment made under regulations made under section 8 of the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002.”.

(9) In Schedule 7 (capital to be disregarded)—

(a) for paragraph 56(11) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“56.   Any payment made under regulations made under section 8 of the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002.”; and

(b) for paragraph 57(12) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“57.   Any payment made to the claimant pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.”.

(1)

Regulation 104(1) was amended by regulation 3(2) of S.R. 1997 No. 22, Article 9(8)(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 428 (C. 32) and regulation 2(2)(a) of S.R. 2000 No. 366

(2)

Paragraph 10 was amended by regulation 2(1)(a) of S.R. 1998 No. 326, regulation 2(1)(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 391, paragraph 42 of Schedule 2 to S.R. 2000 No. 350, regulation 4(3) of S.R. 2002 No. 128, paragraph 10(c) and (d) of Schedule 2 to S.R. 2003 No. 195 and regulation 2(7) of S.R. 2005 No. 98

(3)

Regulation 107 was substituted by regulation 9 of S.R. 1996 No. 356 and amended by paragraph 43 of Schedule 2 to S.R. 2000 No. 350 and regulation 2(2)(b) of S.R. 2000 No. 366

(4)

Paragraph (2) was amended by regulation 6 of S.R. 1997 No. 412

(5)

Regulation 116 was amended by regulation 10 of S.R. 1996 No. 356, regulation 8 of S.R. 1997 No. 22 and regulation 2(2)(c) of S.R. 2000 No. 366

(6)

Paragraph 13(5) was amended by regulation 2(18)(a) of S.R. 1996 No. 503

(7)

Paragraph 22 was amended by regulation 10(8) of S.R. 2000 No. 71

(8)

Sub-paragraph (1)(b) was substituted by regulation 8(7)(a) of S.R. 1998 No. 2 and amended by regulation 4(4)(a)(i) of S.R. 2003 No. 417

(9)

Sub-paragraph (1A) was inserted by regulation 4(4)(a)(ii) of S.R. 2003 No. 417

(10)

Paragraph 56 was added by regulation 2(3)(b) of S.R. 1997 No. 22

(11)

Paragraph 56 was added by regulation 4(5)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 417

(12)

Paragraph 57 was added by regulation 4(5)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 417