De-rating grant
26.—(1) The Department shall for each financial year make a grant under this section to councils (unless in any particular case the amount of the grant would be nil).
(2) In this section “the de-rating grant” means the grant made under this section for any financial year.
(3) The amount of a de-rating grant shall be an amount equal to the difference between—
(a)the amount of the product of the district rate for that year (within the meaning of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 (NI 28)); and
(b)the amount which, but for the provisions of Articles 31B and 42 of, and paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to, that Order, would have been the amount of that product.
(4) Subsection (3) is subject to section 28 (reductions in grants).
(5) Payments in respect of the de-rating grant shall be made to a council at such times as the Department may determine.