The Social Care Charges (Means Assessment and Determination of Charges) (Wales) Regulations 2011

Means assessment process

14.—(1) Where a local authority carries out an assessment of a service user’s means in accordance with section 5(1) of the Measure, it must ensure that the process of assessment that it employs gives effect to the requirements of this regulation.

(2) When undertaking a means assessment, if a local authority takes into account a service user’s savings or capital, the local authority must—

(a) subject to sub-paragraph (b) and to paragraph (3), calculate the capital of a service user in accordance with Part 3 of the 1992 Regulations;

(b) disregard the value of a service user’s main residence from its calculation of that person’s capital.

(3) Nothing in paragraph (2) affects the discretion of a local authority when calculating a service user’s capital to apply any criteria that are more generous to the service user than those as from time to time applied in the provisions referred to in paragraph (2)(a).

(4) When undertaking a means assessment, if a local authority takes into account a service user’s income, the local authority must—

(a) assess what part of the service user’s income properly constitutes “earnings” (“enillion”) in accordance with the definition of “earnings” in regulations 35 and 37 of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006(1), or as the case may be, in regulations 35 and 37 of the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006(2);

(b) disregard in full those earnings;

(c) disregard in full any amount received by a service user in respect of savings credit; and

(d) disregard in full any payment received by a service user which is referred to in paragraph 24 of Schedule 3 to the 1992 Regulations (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings)(3).

(5) Nothing in paragraph (4) affects the discretion of a local authority when calculating a service user’s income to apply any criteria that are more generous to the service user than the provisions in paragraph (4).

(6) In this regulation—

• “the 1992 Regulations” (“Rheoliadau 1992”) means the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992(4).

(1)

S.I. 2006/213.

(2)

S.I. 2006/214.

(3)

Payments referred to in paragraph 24 of Schedule 3 to the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulation 1992 are described in paragraph 39 of Schedule 9 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967) (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) as “any payment made under or by the Macfarlane Trust, the Macfarlane (Special Payments) Trust, the Macfarlane (Special Payments) (No.2) Trust, the Fund, the Eileen Trust, MFET Limited or the Independent Living Fund (2006).”.

(4)

S.I. 1992/2977.