139.Paragraph 2 amends section 1 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to the effect that a person must, in order to establish entitlement to Pension Credit, make a claim for Pension Credit in the manner and within the time specified in regulations made under that Act, and that the claimant (and any other person for whom they are claiming) must have a valid National Insurance number in order to establish a claim. (See also paragraph 3 and the commentary below.)
140.Paragraph 3 amends section 5(2) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to include Pension Credit within the definition of the benefits to which section 5(1) of that Act applies. The effect is to confer power:
to prescribe in regulations the manner in which a claim to Pension Credit is to be made;
to prescribe time limits for claiming;
to disallow claims if they have not been made in the prescribed manner and within prescribed time limits;
to enable one person to act for another in relation to a claim;
to require evidence and information in relation to a claim;
to specify the date on which entitlement is to begin and the length of the award; and,
when the requirements for entitlement are satisfied, to provide for the revision or supersession of an award if the requirements are no longer satisfied.
141.The effect of the amendment inserting a new subsection (3A) into section 5 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 is that regulations may be made under paragraph (h) or (hh) of subsection (1) of that section requiring a person to provide information enabling a decision to be made on whether there should be an assessed income period and, if so, its length.
142.The rules about how entitlement to social security benefits is to be decided, including the way appeals are to be resolved, are in the Social Security Act 1998 and related regulations. These paragraphs add references to Pension Credit in the relevant provisions of the Social Security Act 1998. The effect of this is that the established decision-making and appeal provisions of the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/991) will apply to Pension Credit.
143.The intention in paragraph 13 is to secure that Pension Credit is normally paid at a weekly rate and also, where necessary, to provide the flexibility to make the adjustments necessary to align payment of Pension Credit with other benefits paid to the claimant.
144.The amendments of section 124 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 remove entitlement to Income Support for those claimants who have attained the qualifying age for Pension Credit and for those claimants whose partners are entitled to Pension Credit.
145.New section 136A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 makes provision for the treatment of income and capital for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit where the claimant has attained the qualifying age for Pension Credit.
146.Subsection (1) of section 136A applies subsections (2) and (3) to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit in the case of any person who has attained the qualifying age for Pension Credit.
147.Subsection (2) allows the Secretary of State to make provision in regulations to disapply, for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, the provisions of section 134(1) (exclusion where capital exceeds the prescribed limit), or any provision of section 136 (treatment of income and capital).
148.Subsection (3) allows the Secretary of State to make regulations which provide for the income and capital of a claimant who has attained the qualifying age to be determined for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit by applying, with such modifications as he thinks fit, sections 5 and 15 of this Act.
149.Subsection (4)(a) allows regulations under subsection (3) to authorise or require that any calculation or estimate of a claimant’s income or capital made by the Secretary of State for the purposes of Pension Credit be used for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
150.Subsection (4)(b)(i) allows regulations under subsection (3) to require that where there is an assessed income period in force for Pension Credit, the assessed amount of any retirement provision for the purposes of Pension Credit shall be used in the determination of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit entitlement.
151.Subsection (4)(b)(ii) allows regulations under subsection (3) to provide that elements of a claimant’s retirement provision which are not taken into account for Pension Credit shall not be taken into account for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
152.Subsections (6) and (7) allow regulations made under section 136A to include provision for cases to which section 12 of the Act applies. Such regulations may include provision such as may be made by section 133 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.
153.These paragraphs amend sections 148 to 150 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 so as to make Pension Credit a benefit which qualifies the recipient for the Christmas Bonus.
154.Paragraph 9 amends section 15A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 so as to give the Secretary of State power to make, in prescribed circumstances, payments of a prescribed part of any Pension Credit directly to a mortgage lender in respect of a claimant’s mortgage interest.
155.Paragraph 10 amends section 71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 so that the Secretary of State is entitled to recover overpayments of Pension Credit where the overpayment was the result of the claimant’s misrepresentation or failure to disclose a material fact.
156.Paragraph 11 amends section 74 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 so that the Secretary of State is entitled to recover overpayments of Pension Credit where the overpayment resulted from the claimant’s receiving a late payment of other moneys (usually of another social security benefit).
157.Paragraph 12 has the effect of applying the provisions in Part 6 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (enforcement) to Pension Credit. This causes the provisions on inspection and offences and legal proceedings to apply to Pension Credit.
158.Paragraph 13 amends section 124 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to add Pension Credit to the list of social security benefits for which copies of birth, marriage and death certificates are to be provided.
159.Paragraph 14 amends section 125 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to include Pension Credit in the list of social security benefits for which keepers of registers of births, marriages and deaths are required to provide notification of deaths.
160.Paragraph 15 amends section 126 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to include Pension Credit in the list of social security benefits which give rise to a duty on personal representatives to give information about the estate of a deceased person.
161.Paragraph 16 amends section 150 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to include sums relating to guarantee credit and savings credit in the list of sums to be reviewed by the Secretary of State in connection with the annual uprating of benefits.
162.Paragraph 17 inserts a new section 159B into the Social Security Administration Act 1992. The new section provides for the Secretary of State to make a routine adjustment of a person’s Pension Credit in consequence of benefit uprating.
163.Subsections (2) and (3) of section 159B allow Pension Credit to continue being paid after its amount is adjusted without the need for the Secretary of State to make a further decision on the award.
164.Subsections (4) and (5) allow an award of Pension Credit made in the period after the uprated amounts have been announced, but before they have started to have effect, to take account of the new rates.
165.Paragraph 23 amends section 187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 so as to add Pension Credit to the list of social security benefits which cannot be assigned to a third party, nor passed to creditors in the event of the bankruptcy of the claimant.
166.Paragraph 25 amends Schedule 6 to the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 to include the guarantee credit in the list of social security benefits, receipt of which exempts persons from payment of magistrates’ courts’ fees.
167.Paragraph 26 amends section 70(2) of the Transport Act 1982 to allow the Secretary of State for Transport to make payments, in respect of securing a medical exemption from the requirement to wear a seat belt, where the person seeking the exemption is in receipt of the guarantee credit.
168.Paragraph 27 amends paragraph 7A of Schedule 2 to the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987 so as to enable Scottish local authorities to request that deductions be made from Pension Credit for outstanding Community Charge. Paragraph 29 makes similar provision as regards local authorities in England and Wales by amending paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
169.Paragraph 28 amends section 617(2) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 so as to include Pension Credit in the list of social security benefits which shall not be treated as income for any purpose of the Income Tax Acts.
170.Paragraph 30 amends section 29 of the Children Act 1989 so as to include the guarantee credit in the list of social security benefits, receipt of which exempts persons from being liable to pay the cost of certain day care and other services provided by local authorities.
171.This amendment of section 24 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 enables magistrates' courts to request the Secretary of State to make deductions from Pension Credit in order to pay fines or compensation orders imposed by the court.
172.The amendments to Schedules 4 and 8 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 enable local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland to apply to the Secretary of State for sums outstanding under liability orders imposed by magistrates' courts to be deducted from Pension Credit. Liability orders are made where council tax is unpaid.
173.The amendments of sections 3 and 3A of the Jobseekers Act 1995 remove entitlement to income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance for those claimants who are entitled to Pension Credit or whose partners are entitled to Pension Credit.
174.Paragraph 41 amends subsection (3) of section 34 of the Social Security Act 1998 so that regulations may require local authorities to give priority to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claims received from people who have been receiving Pension Credit.
175.Paragraph 43 amends section 94 of the Local Government Act 2000 so as to add Pension Credit to the list of benefits information on which may be provided to local authorities in connection with the local authorities’ applications for grants for welfare services.
176.Paragraphs 44 to 49 amend the Social Security Fraud Act 2001 (“the Fraud Act”) so that Pension Credit is a disqualifying and sanctionable benefit for the purposes of that Act. The Fraud Act provides for certain social security benefits to be reduced where a claimant has been convicted of certain offences relating to social security.
177.Paragraph 45(2) inserts new subsection (4A) into section 7 of the Fraud Act so that the Pension Credit entitlement of an offender can be reduced for any period comprised in the disqualification period by an amount prescribed in regulations.
178.Paragraph 46(3) inserts new subsection (4A) into section 9 of the Fraud Act so that the Pension Credit entitlement of a member of the offender’s family can be reduced for the whole or any part of the disqualification period by an amount prescribed in regulations.