The Social Security (Education Maintenance Allowance Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations further amend the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

In particular, regulation 2(1) provides that education maintenance allowances payable by virtue of regulations made under section 518 of the Education Act 1996 shall be disregarded in the calculation of a person’s income for the purpose of ascertaining entitlement to the benefits referred to above. Regulation 2(3) provides that bonus payments of such allowances shall be disregarded as capital for the purposes of ascertaining entitlement to those benefits.

Regulation 3 revokes, with a saving, a previous set of Regulations.

In so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulations 2(1), (2)(a), (3), and (4)(a) and 3, to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, (“the 1992 Act”), after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee, they have not been so referred by virtue of section 150(1)(b) of that Act. Otherwise they make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Security in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the 1992 Act, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.