The Social Security Amendment (Residential Care and Nursing Homes) Regulations 2001

1.  In regulation 2 (interpretation)—

(a) in paragraph (1)—

(i) for the definition of “nursing home” and “residential care home” there shall be substituted the following definitions—

““nursing home” means—

(a)

premises which are a nursing home or mental nursing home within the meaning of the Registered Homes Act 1984(1) and which are either registered under Part II of that Act or exempt from registration under section 37 thereof (power to exempt Christian Science Homes); or

(b)

any premises used or intended to be used for the reception of such persons or the provision of such nursing or services as is mentioned in any paragraph of subsection (1) of section 21 or section 22(1) of the Registered Homes Act 1984 (meaning of nursing home or mental nursing home) or, in Scotland, as are mentioned in section 10(2) of the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938(2) (interpretation) and which are maintained or controlled by a body instituted by special Act of Parliament or incorporated by Royal Charter;

(c)

in Scotland—

(i)

premises which are a nursing home within the meaning of section 10 of the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 which are either registered under that Act or exempt from registration under section 6 or 7 thereof (general power to exempt homes and power to exempt Christian Science Homes);

(ii)

premises which are a private hospital within the meaning of section 12 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984(3) (private hospitals), and which are registered under that Act;”;

““residential care home” means an establishment—

(a)

which is required to be registered under Part I of the Registered Homes Act 1984 and is so registered, or is deemed to be registered under section 2(3) of the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991(4) (which refers to the registration of small homes where the application for registration has not been determined); or

(b)

run by the Abbeyfield Society including all bodies corporate or incorporate which are affiliated to that Society; or

(c)

which provides residential accommodation with both board and personal care and is managed or provided by a body incorporated by Royal Charter or constituted by Act of Parliament other than a local social services authority; or

(d)

in Scotland, which is a home registered under section 61 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968(5) or is an establishment provided by a housing association registered with Scottish Homes established by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988(6) which provides care equivalent to that given in residential accommodation provided under Part IV of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968; or

(e)

which is exempt from registration under Part I of the Registered Homes Act 1984 pursuant to section 1(4)(a) of that Act (exemption from registration in respect of certain homes) because one or more of the residents are treated as relatives pursuant to section 19(4) of that Act;

and in paragraph (c) of this definition, “personal care” means personal care for persons in need of personal care by reason of old age, disablement, past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs or past or present mental disorder;”;

(ii) in the definition of “residential accommodation”, the words “regulation 19 and” shall be omitted;

(iii) the definition of “preserved right” shall be omitted;

(b) after paragraph (1), there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(1A) For the purposes of these Regulations, where a person’s principal place of residence is a residential care home or a nursing home and he is temporarily absent from that home, he shall be regarded as continuing to reside in that home—

(a) where he is absent because he is a patient, for the first six weeks of any such period of absence and for this purpose—

(i) “patient” has the meaning it has in Schedule 7 by virtue of regulation 21(3); and

(ii) periods of absence separated by not more than 28 days shall be treated as a single period of absence equal in duration to all those periods; and

(b) for the first three weeks of any other period of absence.”.

(1)

1984 c. 23.

(2)

1938 c. 73; section 10 was amended by section 15 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960 (c. 61) and that amendment is preserved notwithstanding the repeal of that 1960 Act by section 126(1)(a) of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 36). Section 10 was also amended by Schedule 7 to the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1972 (c. 58), Schedules 7 and 8 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979 (c. 36) and by Schedule 7 to the Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53) and subsection (2) of that section 10 was added by section 26 of, and paragraph 14 of Schedule 4 to, the Health Services Act 1980.

(3)

1984 c. 36.

(4)

1991 c. 20.

(5)

1968 c. 49; section 61 was amended by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (c. 21), sections 289C and 289G and Schedule 7C.

(6)

1988 c. 43.