Title, commencement, application and interpretation
1.—(1) The title of these Regulations is The Care and Support (Disputes about Ordinary Residence, etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2015.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 6 April 2016 and apply to Wales.
(3) In these Regulations—
“the Act” (“y Ddeddf”) means the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014;
“the appropriate person” (“y person priodol”) means the person by whom a dispute is to be determined pursuant to section 195(1) of the Act;
“dispute” (“anghydfod”) means a dispute—
between local authorities about where a person is ordinarily resident in Wales for the purposes of the Act,
between a sending and receiving local authority under section 56 of the Act (portability of care and support) about the application of that section, or
between local authorities about the application of section 189 of the Act (provider failure: temporary duty on local authority);
“the lead authority” (“yr awdurdod arweiniol”) means, in relation to a dispute, the local authority which (as a result of regulation 2 or otherwise)—
is meeting the needs of the person to whom the dispute relates, or a carer of that person, as at the date on which the dispute arises, or
if no local authority is meeting those needs at that date, is required to do so by regulation 2(3);
“referred” (“atgyfeirir”, yn cael ei atgyfeirio”) means referred for determination by the appropriate person, and “refer” (“atgyfeirio”) and “referral” (“atgyfeiriad”) are to be construed accordingly.
(4) References in these Regulations to the date on which a dispute arises are references to the first date on which a written communication is sent by one of the local authorities (“the first authority”) to another of the local authorities (“the second authority”) which (as the case may be)—
(a)asserts that, in the first authority’s view, the person to whom the dispute relates is not ordinarily resident in its area for the purposes of the Act, or that the person is ordinarily resident in the second authority’s area for those purposes,
(b)raises an issue about the application of section 56 of the Act, or
(c)raises an issue about the application of section 189 of the Act.
(5) In these Regulations, a reference to “the authorities” is a reference to the authorities who are parties to a dispute and includes (where different) a reference to the lead authority in relation to that dispute.