Amendment of the Housing Benefit Regulations
4.—(1) The Housing Benefit Regulations shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this Regulation.
(2) In regulation 36(1) (modifications in respect of child and young person) after the words “the income of a child or young person” there shall be inserted the words “, other than income consisting of any payment of maintenance whether under a court order or not,”.
(3) In Schedule 4 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings)–
(a)in paragraph 13, for sub-paragraph (3) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph–
“(3) Sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to a payment which is made or due to be made by–
(a)a former partner of the claimant, or a former partner of any member of the claimant’s family; or
(b)the parent of a child or young person where that child or young person is a member of the claimant’s family.”;
(b)after paragraph 46 there shall be added the following paragraph–
“47.—(1) Where a claimant’s applicable amount includes an amount by way of the family premium, £15 of any payment of maintenance, whether under a court order or not, which is made or due to be made by–
(a)the claimant’s former partner, or the claimant’s partner’s former partner; or
(b)the parent of a child or young person where that child or young person is a member of the claimant’s family except where that parent is the claimant or the claimant’s partner.
(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), where more than one maintenance payment falls to be taken into account in any week, all such payments shall be aggregated and treated as if they were a single payment.”.