The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2017

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

Citation, commencement and effect

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2017 and, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), shall come into operation for the purposes of—

(a) this Article and Articles 2 and 7, on 1st April 2017;

(b) Article 3—

(i) in so far as it relates to any increase to which Article 7(9)(b) applies, on 1st April 2017, and

(ii) for all other purposes, on 10th April 2017;

(c) Articles 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 19, on 10th April 2017;

(d) Article 8, in so far as it relates to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that beneficiary on or after 1st April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “benefit week” has the same meaning as in regulation 2(1) of the Computation of Earnings Regulations;

(e) Article 9, on 6th April 2017;

(f) Article 10, on 2nd April 2017, except for the purpose of determining the rate of maternity allowance in accordance with section 35A(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act(1) (appropriate weekly rate of maternity allowance under section 35) for which purpose it shall come into operation on 10th April 2017;

(g) Article 11, on 2nd April 2017;

(h) Articles 17 and 18, on 6th April 2017;

(i) Articles 20 and 21, in so far as they relate to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that beneficiary on or after 10th April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “benefit week” has the same meaning as in the Income Support Regulations;

(j) Articles 22 and 23, in relation to a case where rent is payable at intervals of a week or any multiple thereof, on 3rd April 2017, and in relation to any other case, on 1st April 2017;

(k) Article 24, in so far as it relates to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that beneficiary on or after 10th April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “benefit week” has the same meaning as in the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations;

(l) Article 25, in so far as it relates to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that beneficiary on or after 10th April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “benefit week” has the same meaning as in the State Pension Credit Regulations;

(m) Article 26, in so far as it relates to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that beneficiary on or after 10th April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “benefit week” has the same meaning as in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008;

(n) Article 27, in so far as it relates to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that beneficiary on or after 10th April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “benefit week” has the same meaning as in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2016;

(o) Article 28, in so far as it relates to a particular beneficiary, on the first day of the first assessment period to commence for that beneficiary on or after 10th April 2017 and, for the purpose of this sub-paragraph, “assessment period” has the same meaning as in Article 12(2) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015(2); and

(p) Article 29, on 9th May 2017.

(2) In so far as Articles 3, 4, 10, 12, 19 and 27 relate to a beneficiary in favour of whom an award of universal credit is in force, those Articles shall come into operation for the purposes of determining the beneficiary’s unearned income in relation to that award on the same day as Article 28 comes into operation for that beneficiary.

(3) The changes made in the sums specified for rates or amounts of benefit in Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13 and 14 shall take effect for each case on the date specified in relation to that case in Article 7.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order—

“the Administration Act” means the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

“the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992(3);

“the Pensions Act” means the Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 2015(4);

“the Pension Schemes Act” means the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993(5);

“the Computation of Earnings Regulations” means the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(6);

“the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008” means the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008(7);

“the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2016” means the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016(8);

“the Housing Benefit Regulations” means the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(9);

“the Housing Benefit (SPC) Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for State Pension Credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(10);

“the Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(11);

“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(12);

“the State Pension Credit Regulations” means the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003(13); and

“the Universal Credit Regulations” means the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016(14).

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(15) shall apply to this Order as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

(3) For the purposes of this Order and notwithstanding section 39(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954, where a period of time is expressed to begin on, or to be reckoned from, a particular day, that day shall be included in the period.

(1)

Section 35A was inserted by Article 50(3) of the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3147 (N.I. 11)) and subsection (1) was substituted by section 4(1)(a) of the Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 (c. 10 (N.I.))

(2)

S.I. 2015/2006 (N.I. 1)

(3)

1992 c. 7

(4)

2015 c. 5 (N.I.)

(5)

1993 c. 49

(6)

S.R. 1996 No. 520

(7)

S.R. 2008 No. 280; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 2008 Nos. 413 and 503, S.R. 2010 No. 340, S.R. 2015 No. 124 and S.R. 2016 Nos. 44 and 110

(8)

S.R. 2016 No. 219

(9)

S.R. 2006 No. 405; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 2008 No. 378, S.R. 2009 No. 382, S.R. 2011 Nos. 136 and 357, S.R. 2012 No. 116, S.R. 2015 No. 124 and S.R. 2016 Nos. 110, 310 and 326

(10)

S.R. 2006 No. 406; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 2008 No. 498, S.R. 2012 No. 116, S.R. 2015 No. 124 and S.R. 2016 Nos. 110 and 310

(11)

S.R. 1987 No. 459; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 1988 Nos. 146 and 318, S.R. 1990 Nos. 131 and 346, S.R. 1993 No. 373, S.R. 1994 No. 77, S.R. 1995 Nos. 301 and 434, S.R. 1996 Nos. 199, 288, 449 and 476, S.R. 1997 No. 3, S.R. 1998 No. 112, S.R. 1999 Nos. 371 (C. 28), 382 and 472 (C. 36), S.R. 2000 Nos. 4, 71 and 367, S.R. 2001 No. 406, S.R. 2002 Nos. 132 and 323, S.R. 2003 Nos. 191 and 195, S.R. 2004 Nos. 394 and 461, S.R. 2006 No. 128, S.R. 2007 Nos. 154 and 396, S.R. 2008 No. 503, S.R. 2010 Nos. 58 and 340, S.R. 2011 No. 135, S.R. 2015 No. 124 and S.R. 2016 Nos. 44, 110 and 228

(12)

S.R. 1996 No. 198; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 1996 Nos. 288, 356, 358 and 476, S.R. 1997 No. 3, S.R. 1998 No. 112, S.R. 1999 Nos. 382 and 428 (C. 32), S.R. 2000 Nos. 71, 350 and 367, S.R. 2001 Nos. 120 and 406, S.R. 2002 No. 323, S.R. 2003 Nos. 195 and 267, S.R. 2004 Nos. 394 and 461, S.R. 2006 No. 128, S.R 2007 No. 154, S.R. 2008 No. 503, S.R. 2010 Nos. 69, 103 and 340, S.R. 2011 No. 135, S.I. 2013/3021, S.R. 2015 No. 124 and S.R. 2016 Nos. 44 and 110

(13)

S.R. 2003 No. 28; relevant amending Rules are S.R. 2004 Nos. 394 and 461, S.R. 2005 No. 580, S.R. 2006 Nos. 97 and 359, S.R. 2007 No. 396, S.R. 2008 No. 503, S.R. 2010 No. 340, S.R. 2015 No. 124 and S.R. 2016 Nos. 92 and 110

(14)

S.R. 2016 No. 216

(15)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)