Maximum amount
4.—(1) Except as provided for in sub-paragraph (4), the Department may not deduct an amount from a claimant’s award of universal credit under a provision mentioned in paragraph 5(2) if, in relation to any assessment period, that would result in the Department deducting an amount in excess of 40 per cent. of the standard allowance (“the maximum amount”) from the claimant’s award under one or more relevant provisions.
(2) The relevant provisions are—
(a)those mentioned in paragraph 5(2);
(b)Article 31 of the 2015 Order (higher-level sanctions);
(c)Article 32 of the 2015 Order (other sanctions);
(d)section 69ZG of the Administration Act(1) (recovery of payments on account);
(e)section 5B of the Fraud Act(2) (loss of benefit in case of conviction, penalty or caution for benefit offence);
(f)section 6 of the Fraud Act(3) (loss of benefit for second or subsequent conviction of benefit offence); and
(g)section 8 of the Fraud Act(4) (effect of offence on benefits for members of offender’s family).
(3) For the purposes of determining whether the maximum amount would be exceeded, no account is to be taken of any liability for continuing need mentioned in—
(a)paragraph 8(4)(b) (fuel costs); or
(b)paragraph 10(6)(b) or (7)(b) (water charges).
(4) Subject to paragraph 3, the Department may deduct an amount from the claimant’s award under paragraph 6, 7 or 8 and pay that amount to a third party where the deduction appears to the Department to be in the claimant’s best interests, even though the deduction would result in the maximum amount being exceeded.
Section 69ZG is inserted by Article 109(1) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/2006 (N.I. 1)).
Section 5B was inserted by section 19(1) of the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2010 (c. 13 (N.I.)) and amended by Articles 115(8)(a), 117(2) to (6) and 118(2) of, and paragraph 47 of Schedule 2, paragraph 14 of Schedule 3 and Part 1 of Schedule 12 to the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.
Section 6 was amended by paragraph 33 of Schedule 2 to the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 (c. 14 (N.I.)), paragraph 14 of Schedule 3 to the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 (c. 2 (N.I.)) and paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 to the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2010 and Articles 117(7) and 118(3) to (11) of, and paragraph 48 of Schedule 2, paragraph 15 of Schedule 3 and Part 1 of Schedule 12 to, the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.
Section 8 was amended by paragraph 34 of Schedule 2 to the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002, paragraph 14(4) and (5) of Schedule 3 to the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007, paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Welfare Reform Act 2010 and paragraph 50 of Schedule 2 and Part 1 of Schedule 12 to the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.