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Statutory Instruments

1999 No. 1088

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Social Security (Incapacity, Earnings and Work Trials) Pilot Schemes Regulations 1999

Made

7th April 1999

Coming into force

11th April 1999

Whereas a draft of this instrument was laid before Parliament in accordance with section 77(9) of the Social Security Act 1998(1) and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:

Now, therefore, the Secretary of State for Social Security, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 171A, 171B, 171C, 171D, 171E, 171G(2) and 175(2) to (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(2), and sections 77 and 84 of the Social Security Act 1998(3) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, after reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee(4), hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Incapacity, Earnings and Work Trials) Pilot Schemes Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 11th April 1999.

(2) These Regulations, other than regulation 7 (transitional provision), shall cease to have effect on 8th April 2000, unless revoked with effect from an earlier date.

(3) In these Regulations—

“the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(5);

“the Incapacity General Regulations” means the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations 1995(6);

“a pilot scheme area” means the locality of the district offices of the Department of Social Security specified in column (3) of the Schedule to these Regulations and, in relation to those district offices, the postal districts specified in column (4) of the Schedule;

“the pilot scheme period” means any day within a period beginning on 11th April 1999 and ending on 8th April 2000; and

“a prescribed benefit” means any benefit, allowance or advantage under the Contributions and Benefits Act (other than statutory sick pay) mentioned in section 77(8) of the Social Security Act 1998 and for which entitlement is dependent on incapacity for work.

Application

2.  These Regulations shall apply to any person who—

(a)subject to regulation 6, is residing in a pilot scheme area during any period within the pilot scheme period; and

(b)is—

(i)on 11th April 1999, receiving a prescribed benefit from a district office in a pilot scheme area; or

(ii)on or after 11th April 1999, entitled to, and claims, a prescribed benefit in a pilot scheme area for any day within the pilot scheme period.

Modification of the Incapacity General Regulations

3.  These Regulations modify the Incapacity General Regulations to the extent prescribed in these Regulations and in so far as those Regulations apply to a person to whom these Regulations apply.

Earnings

4.—(1) Where a person who does any work on any day in a week for which he would otherwise be treated as capable of work under regulation 16 of the Incapacity General Regulations(7), he shall, if his earnings in that week do not exceed £15, be treated as incapable of work for that week.

(2) For the purposes of calculating the amount of a person’s earnings under this regulation, the provisions of the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1996(8) shall be treated as if they applied to this regulation.

Work Trials

5.—(1) A person to whom this regulation applies shall be treated as incapable of work on any day, in whole or in part as the case may be, on which he does any approved work in a period of incapacity for work consisting of days, or part days, as the case may be, aggregated to not more than 15 days.

(2) This regulation applies to a person—

(a)who has been incapable of work or treated as incapable of work for a period of incapacity for work of more than 196 days;

(b)who is receiving a prescribed benefit; and

(c)who is engaged in approved work on a trial basis.

(3) In this regulation—

Residence

6.—(1) This regulation applies to a person who moves his residence from a pilot scheme area (“former pilot scheme area”) to a residence which is not within a pilot scheme area in the course of the pilot scheme period.

(2) A person to whom paragraph (1) applies shall be treated as residing in the former pilot scheme area if—

(a)immediately before his departure from the former pilot scheme area, he was doing work in circumstances in which regulation 4 or 5 applied; and

(b)immediately after his departure from the former pilot scheme area, he continues to do the work for which he was treated as incapable of work in circumstances in which regulation 4 or 5 applied.

Transitional Provision

7.  On the expiry of these Regulations, the Incapacity General Regulations shall apply to any person to whom these Regulations applied with modifications to those Regulations made by these Regulations for—

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Social Security.

Stephen C. Timms

Minister of State,

Department of Social Security

7th April 1999

Regulation 1(3)

SCHEDULE

(1)(2)(3)(4)
RegionDistrictOfficesPostal Districts
AD1—East London & AngliaNewhamCanning TownE16
PlaistowE6, E13
StratfordE12, E15, E7
AD2—ChilternsBedfordshireBedfordMK17, MK40, MK41, MK42, MK43, MK44, MK45, MK46, LU5, NN9, NN10, PE18, PE19, SG5, SG15, SG16, SG17, SG18, SG19
LutonHP4, LU1, LU2, LU3, LU4, LU5, LU6, LU7, MK40, MK45
AD3—London SouthCentral SussexBrightonBN1, BN2
HoveBN2, BN3, BN6, BN7, BN8, BN9, BN10, BN25, BN41, RH15, RH17
AD4—West CountryBristol East & BathBathBA1, BA2, BA3, BA4, BA5, BA6, TA11, BS18, BS31, BS39, BS40
Bristol EastBS5, BS7, BS10, BS12, BS15, BS16, BS17, GL9, GL12, SN14, BS30, BS32, BS34, BS35, BS36, BS37, BS99
AD4—West CountrySouth DevonPlymouthEX20, PL1, PL2, PL3, PL4, PL5, PL6, PL7, PL8, PL9, PL19, PL20, PL21, TQ7, TQ8, TQ13, PL16
SaltashPL10, PL11, PL12
TorbayTQ1, TQ2, TQ3, TQ4, TQ5, TQ6, TQ9, TQ10, TQ11, TQ12, TQ14
AD5—MerciaMercia Operations EastBostonLN4, PE6, PE10, PE11, PE12, PE13, PE14, PE20, PE21, PE22
Kings LynnPE37, CB6, IP25, IP26, IP27, NR9, NR11, NR19, NR20, NR21, NR22, NR23, NR24, NR25, PE12, PE13, PE14, PE15, PE30, PE31, PE32, PE33, PE34, PE35, PE36, PE38
SkegnessLN4, LN11, LN12, LN13, PE22, PE23, PE24, PE25
AD6—West MidlandsBirmingham SEBirmingham Coventry RoadB26, B27, B36, B37, B90, B91, B92, B93, B94, CV5,CV7, CV8
Birmingham Poplar RoadB11, B28
AD6—West MidlandsSandwellSmethwickB64, B65, B66, B67, B68, B69
West BromwichB70, B71, DY4, B42, B43, B62, WS10, WS5, WV14
AD7—WalesEastern ValleysAberdareCF44, CF45
BlackwoodNP1, NP2, NP3
CaerphillyCF81, CF82, CF83, NP1, NP2
Ebbw ValeCF4, HR3, NP3, NP7, NP8, SA9, SA10
Merthyr TydfilCF1, CF46, CF47, CF48, CF81, NP2
AD9—Greater ManchesterBoltonBoltonBL1, BL2, BL3, BL4, BL5, BL6, BL7, M28, M38
AD10—YorkshireNorth YorkshireScarboroughDL6, TS13, YO6, YO7, YO11, YO12, YO13, YO14, YO17, YO18, YO21, YO22, YO25, YO61, YO62
YorkCA17, DL2, DL7, DL8, DL9, DL10, DL11, TS8, TS9, TS15, YO1, YO2, YO3, YO4, YO5, YO8, YO10, YO13, YO14, YO19, YO23, YO24, YO26, YO30, YO31, YO32, YO41, YO51, YO60, YO61, YO62, BD23, HG1, HG2, HG3, HG4, HG5, LS17, LS21, LS22, LS24, LS25, LS29, LA10
AD11—Tyne TeesSouth TynesideGatesheadDH2, DH3, NE8, NE9, NE10, NE11, NE16, NE17, NE21, NE39, NE40, NE41
South ShieldsNE31, NE32, NE33, NE34, NE35, NE36, SR6
AD12—West of ScotlandSW ScotlandAyrKA5, KA6, KA7, KA8, KA9, KA10, KA18, KA19, KA26
DumfriesDG1, DG2, DG3, DG4, DG5, DG6, DG7, DG10, DG11, DG12, DG13, DG14, DG16, ML12
IrvineKA11, KA12, KA13, KA14, KA15, KA20, KA21, KA22, KA23, KA24, KA27
KilmarnockKA1, KA2, KA3, KA4, KA16, KA17
StranraerDG8, DG9
AD13—East of ScotlandGrampian & ShetlandAberdeenAB2, AB3, AB10, AB11, AB12, AB13, AB14, AB15, AB16, AB21, AB24, AB25, AB30, AB31, AB32, AB33, AB34, AB35, AB36, DD10
PeterheadAB39, AB41, AB42, AB43, AB51, AB52, AB53, AB54, AB55, AB56
LerwickZE1, ZE2
AD13—East of ScotlandLanarkshireBellshillML1, ML4, G71
CoatbridgeFK1, G69, ML1, ML5, ML6
HamiltonEH46, EH47, EH55, G71, G72, ML1, ML3, ML8, ML9, ML11, ML12
MotherwellML1, ML2, ML7, ML8

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide for two pilot schemes which modify the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/311) so that claimants of benefits which are dependent on incapacity for work and who live in the pilot scheme areas—

(a)may earn up to £15 a week without losing their benefit (regulation 4);

(b)may undertake work trials for any period up to 15 days without losing their benefit (regulation 5).

These Regulations also make provision for certain claimants who move out of a pilot scheme area to continue to benefit from the pilot scheme (regulation 6).

These Regulations also make transitional provision so that at the end of the pilot scheme period claimants who participated in the scheme may continue to benefit for a period of up to 6 months or until the work trial ends (regulation 7).

These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.

(2)

1992 c. 4. Sections 171A to 171C were inserted by the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) Act 1994 (c. 18), section 5; and sections 171D, 171E and 171G were inserted by section 6(1) of that Act. Section 171G(2) is cited because of the meaning assigned to the word “prescribe”.

(3)

1998 c. 14. Section 84 is cited because of the meaning assigned to the word “prescribe”.

(4)

See the Social Security Administration Act 1992, section 172(1).

(6)

S.I. 1995/311, to which there are amendments not relevant to this regulation.

(7)

Regulation 16 was amended by S.I. 1995/987 and 1996/3207.

(8)

S.I. 1996/2745.