Amendment of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations
2.—(1) The Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(1) are amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (5).
(2) In regulation 3 (claims not required for entitlement to benefit in certain cases) for paragraph (da)(2) substitute—
“(da)in the case of a bereavement payment where the beneficiary is in receipt of a retirement pension at the date of death of the beneficiary’s spouse or civil partner and satisfies the conditions of entitlement under section 36(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act(3);”.
(3) In regulation 4 (making a claim for benefit)—
(a)in paragraph (1)(4) for “paragraphs (10) and (11)” substitute “paragraphs (10) to (11B)”;
(b)in paragraph (1A)(5) at the beginning insert “Subject to paragraph (11A),”;
(c)after paragraph (11)(6) insert—
“(11A) A claim for income support or jobseeker’s allowance may be made by telephone call to the telephone number specified by the Department where such a claim falls within a category of case which the Department accepts for the purposes of making a telephone claim.
(11B) Paragraph (11A) shall apply unless in any particular case the Department directs that the claim must be made in writing.”; and
(d)in paragraph (12) for “paragraph (11)” substitute “paragraph (11) or (11A)”.
(4) In regulation 6 (date of claim)—
(a)in paragraph (1)(c)(7) for “regulation 4(11)” substitute “regulation 4(11) or (11A)”;
(b)in paragraph (21)(8)—
(i)after “the further claim” insert “for a relevant benefit”, and
(ii)for “on which the additional circumstances apply” substitute “of the decision to award, re-award, or recommence payment of the qualifying benefit on the grounds that sub-paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) was satisfied”;
(c)in paragraph (33)(9)—
(i)after “carer’s allowance” insert “or for an increase in carer’s allowance in respect of an adult or child dependant”, and
(ii)for “is the first day in respect of which that qualifying benefit is payable” substitute “shall be treated as the first day of the benefit week in which the award of the qualifying benefit became payable”; and
(d)for paragraph (34)(10) substitute—
“(34) Where the decision awarding a qualifying benefit is made in respect of a renewal claim where a fixed period award of that benefit has expired, or is due to expire, the date of claim for carer’s allowance shall be treated as the first day of the benefit week in which the renewal award of the qualifying benefit became payable.”.
(5) In regulation 22(1)(11) (long term benefits) for “four weeks, or weekly in advance” substitute “four weeks in arrears, weekly in advance or, where the beneficiary agrees, at intervals not exceeding 13 weeks in arrears”.
S.R. 1987 No. 465; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1992 No. 83, S.R. 1997 No. 156, S.R. 2000 No. 215, S.R. 2001 No. 176, S.R. 2002 Nos. 67 and 297, S.R. 2005 Nos. 14 and 299, S.R. 2006 No. 168 and S.R. 2007 No. 392
Paragraph (da) was inserted by regulation 2(2)(b) of S.R. 2007 No. 392
Section 36(1) was substituted by Article 51(1) of the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3147 (N.I. 11)) and amended by paragraph 70(2) of Schedule 24 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33)
Paragraph (1) was amended by regulation 7(3) of S.R. 1992 No. 83, regulation 3(3)(a) of S.R. 1997 No. 156 and regulation 2(2)(a) of S.R. 2005 No. 14
Paragraph (1A) was inserted by regulation 3(3)(b) of S.R. 1997 No. 156
Paragraphs (11) and (12) were added by regulation 2(2)(b) of S.R. 2005 No. 14 and paragraph (11) was amended by regulation 2(4)(b) of S.R. 2005 No. 299
Paragraph (1) was amended by regulation 3(4)(a) of S.R. 1997 No. 156, paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to S.R. 2001 No. 176 and regulation 2(4) of S.R. 2005 No. 14
Paragraph (21) was substituted by regulation 3(2)(a) of S.R. 2000 No. 215 and amended by regulation 2(2)(e) of S.R. 2002 No. 67 and regulation 2(3)(d) of S.R. 2007 No. 392
Paragraph (33) was added by regulation 2(7)(f) of S.R. 2006 No. 168 and amended by regulation 2(3)(g) of S.R. 2007 No. 392
Paragraph (34) was added by regulation 2(3)(h) of S.R. 2007 No. 392
Regulation 22(1) was substituted by regulation 2(3) of S.R. 2002 No. 297