The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2000

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207), the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1971) and the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/1814) (“the principal sets of regulations”).

In particular, these Regulations–

• provide that certain categories of persons shall not be treated as engaged in remunerative work for the purposes of income support, substitute an out of date legislative reference in that provision and make consequential amendments (regulation 2);

• prescribe the day on which working families' tax credit and disabled person’s tax credit is treated as paid for the purposes of determining a person’s income and thereby, his entitlement to income support and jobseeker’s allowance (regulation 3);

• ensure that the periods that the severe disability and carer premia are payable in the principal sets of regulations remain independent of the method of payment of invalid care allowance (regulation 4);

• extend the definition of relevant child care charges in housing benefit and council tax benefit to include care provided by a child care provider approved by an organisation accredited by the Secretary of State under the scheme established by the Tax Credit (New Category of Child Care Provider) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/3110) (regulation 5);

• correct two incorrect statutory references in the Income Support Regulations (regulations 6 and 7);

• preserve the meaning of Metropolitan Police District in regulation 51 of the Housing Benefit Regulations as a consequence of the redrawing of the boundaries of that district from 1st April 2000 (regulation 8);

• corrects erroneous references in the Social Security Amendment (Education Maintenance Allowance) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/55) (regulation 9) and in the Social Security (Paymens to Reduce Under-occupation) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/637) (regulation 11);

• omit certain disregards from the principal sets of regulations on the basis that they are now otiose (regulation 12).

Regulation 10(2) and (3) amends the Housing Benefit (General) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2734) to correct two minor errors in so far as those Regulations amend the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987. Regulation 10(4) amends those Regulations to remove the requirement that, for certain warden services to be met by housing benefit where the dwelling is one of a group of dwellings, those services must be wholly or mainly for assisting persons in that group of dwellings.

These Regulations do not impose any charge on business.