The Child Benefit (General) and Tax Credits (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Child Benefit (General) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/223) (“the Child Benefit Regulations”), the Child Tax Credit Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2007) (“the Child Tax Credit Regulations”), the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2005) (“the Working Tax Credit Regulations”), and the Tax Credits (Definition and Calculation of Income) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2006) (“the Income Regulations”).

Regulation 2 of these Regulations amends regulation 3(2)(ab)(i) of the Child Benefit Regulations to correctly reflect the types of academic courses the pursuit of which preclude entitlement in respect of a qualifying young person to Child Benefit.

Regulation 3(2) of these Regulations amends regulation 5(5) of the Child Tax Credit Regulations. The meaning of “full-time education” for the purposes of regulation 5(3)-(4) is extended so as to allow entitlement to continue during gaps between courses being undertaken by a qualifying young person.

Regulation 3(3) and regulation 4 of these Regulations substitute a new definition of “blind” into regulation 8 of the Child Tax Credit Regulations and regulation 14(4) and paragraph 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Working Tax Credit Regulations respectively. This is to ensure that the definition of “blind” for tax credits purposes reflects the definition of “blind” used by the Department for Work and Pensions in its regulations, which are also being updated.

Regulation 5 amends the Income Regulations in order to add qualifying bonuses within section 312A of the Income Tax (Earning and Pensions) Act 2003 (c. 1) to the list of sources of income that are disregarded when calculating income for tax credits purposes.

A full Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.