The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1976 (“the Invalid Care Allowance Regulations”), the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (“the Claims and Payments Regulations”) and the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (“the Decisions and Appeals Regulations”).

Regulation 2 amends the Invalid Care Allowance Regulations to increase, from £95 to £100, the amount of weekly earnings a person can receive before being treated as gainfully employed for the purposes of entitlement to carer’s allowance.

Regulation 3 amends the Claims and Payments Regulations to update references to certain social fund benefits; to make provision in relation to death and a change in rate for the purposes of retirement pension; to provide for attendance allowance or disability living allowance to be paid at specified intervals not exceeding 4 weeks; to include arrears of service charges for certain premises provided and maintained by virtue of Article 4(2) of the Probation Board (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 in payments that may be made to third parties; and to reduce, from £0∙55 to £0∙45, the fee which qualifying lenders pay for the purpose of defraying administrative expenses incurred by the Department for Social Development in making payments in respect of mortgage interest direct to those lenders.

Regulation 4 amends the Decisions and Appeals Regulations to make provision in relation to the supersession of decisions where legislation is due to come into operation; the effective date for late notification of change of circumstances in relation to attendance allowance and disability living allowance; and the date on which entitlement to state pension credit terminates on the death of the claimant.

Regulation 5 makes consequential revocations.

These Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.