25.—(1) The Social Security (Child Maintenance Bonus) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(1) shall be amended in accordance with sub-paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) In regulation 1(2) (interpretation)—
(a)for the definition of “couple” there shall be substituted the following definition—
““couple” means—
a man and woman who are married to each other and are members of the same household;
a man and woman who are not married to each other but are living together as husband and wife;
two people of the same sex who are civil partners of each other and are members of the same household; or
two people of the same sex who are not civil partners of each other but are living together as if they were civil partners,
and for the purposes of paragraph (d), two people of the same sex are to be regarded as living together as if they were civil partners if, but only if, they would be regarded as living together as husband and wife were they instead two people of the opposite sex;;”;
(b)in the definition of “partner”, in paragraph (a), for “a married or unmarried couple” there shall be substituted “a couple”.
(3) In regulation 7(2)(2) (death of a person with care of a child) for “or the spouse of any of the preceding persons or, if that person is one of an unmarried couple, the other member of that couple” there shall be substituted “or if any of the preceding persons is one member of a couple, the other member of that couple”.
S.R. 1996 No. 622; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 2001 No. 25 and S.R. 2003 No. 57
Regulations 2 to 13 were revoked by regulation 4 of S.R. 2001 No. 25 as substituted by regulation 2 of S.R. 2003 No. 57 from, in relation to any particular case, the date on which section 22 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 (c. 4) comes into operation in relation to that type of case