The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006.

Regulation 2(4) amends the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 to provide that a person can make a claim for housing benefit by telephone to the Secretary of State where the person is also making a claim by telephone to the Secretary of State for other specified social security benefits. The specified benefits are income support, incapacity benefit, state pension credit, jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance. The regulation also provides that a person can make a claim for housing benefit by telephone when, in relation to other social security benefits, he provides by telephone to the Secretary of State information, evidence, certificates or documents, or notifies any change of circumstance.

Regulation 2(4) also provides for the powers of the local authority and the Secretary of State to decide if a claim by telephone for housing benefit has been validly made, what is a defective claim and the consequences of a claim being defective, and the date on which a telephone claim is treated as made.

Regulation 2(7) amends the provision which allows a person to amend or withdraw a claim for housing benefit so as to include provision for claims made by telephone to the Secretary of State.

Regulation 2(9) removes the reference to the penalties for the criminal offence committed by a landlord or their agent who fails to supply relevant information required by a local authority. The penalties are now set out in the relevant primary legislation, section 113 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

Regulation 2(10) sets out the circumstances in which information relating to housing benefit is to be supplied between local authorities, including persons authorised to exercise benefit functions on behalf of those authorities. These regulations also set out the information to be supplied.

Regulation 2 also removes obsolete references to the now defunct ONE pilot and gateway offices.

Regulations 3 to 5 make equivalent amendments to the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, except that there is no offence in either of the latter two sets of regulations equivalent to that set out in regulation 2(9).

An impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the private or voluntary sectors.