The National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Wales) Regulations 2007 (“the principal Regulations”).

The principal Regulations make provision so that people who are either in receipt of certain state benefits or who are on a low income are able to obtain the remission or repayment of certain charges which would otherwise be payable under the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 (“NHS charges”) and the payment of travelling expenses incurred in obtaining certain NHS services (“NHS travelling expenses”).

In calculating a person’s resources and requirements under the principal Regulations in order to establish whether a person can claim entitlement to the remission of NHS charges and the payment of NHS travelling expenses, a modified version of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 is applied.

Regulation 2 makes provision for the calculation of the resources and requirements of members of polygamous marriages.

Regulation 3 provides that where a person who is in receipt of employment and support allowance has a sanction applied under regulation 63 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, that person’s entitlement to remission of NHS charges and payment of NHS travelling expenses will be calculated as if the sanction had not been applied. Regulation 3 also provides for specific disregards for those who undertake exempt work under regulation 45 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008.

Regulation 4 provides for persons aged under 25 to have included in the calculation of their entitlement to a remission of NHS charges and the payment of NHS travelling expenses a personal allowance of an amount equal to that for a person aged 25 or over. This will apply to those who are either in receipt of employment and support allowance and have been awarded an employment and support allowance component, or who have been incapable of work for a continuous period of 28 weeks since 27 October 2008. Regulation 3 also provides for various premiums to be included in the calculation for entitlement to remission of NHS charges and the payment of NHS travelling expenses, for those who receive employment and support allowance.