2000 No. 266

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Made4th September 2000

Coming into operation2nd October 2000

The Department for Social Development, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 69(8) and 165(1), (3) and (4)(b) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 19921, and now vested in it2, and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 and shall come into operation on 2nd October 2000.

(2)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19543 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendment of the Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations2.

In regulation 16 of the Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19884 (limitations on deductions from prescribed benefits)—

(a)

for paragraph (5) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(5)
Where a person responsible for the misrepresentation of or failure to disclose a material fact has, by reason thereof—
(a)
been found guilty of an offence under any statutory provision;
(b)
made an admission after caution of deception or fraud for the purpose of obtaining benefit; or
(c)
agreed to pay a penalty under section 109A of the Administration Act5 and the agreement has not been withdrawn,
the amount mentioned in paragraph (4)(a) shall be 4 times 5 per cent. of the personal allowance for a single claimant aged not less than 25, that 5 per cent. being, where it is not a multiple of 10 pence, rounded to the nearest 10 pence or, if it is a multiple of 5 pence but not of 10 pence, the next higher multiple of 10 pence.”; and

(b)

in paragraph (8)—

(i)

before the definition of “benefit week” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““admission after caution” means an admission after a caution has been administered in accordance with a Code issued under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 19896;”, and

(ii)

the definition of “written statement after caution”7 shall be omitted.

Transitional provision3.

These Regulations shall not apply to a misrepresentation of or failure to disclose a material fact which occurred before 2nd October 2000.

Revocation4.

The Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19898 are hereby revoked.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 4th September 2000.

John O'Neill

Senior Officer of the

Department for Social Development

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend regulation 16 of the Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1988 to provide for the higher rate of deduction to recover overpayments from income support or jobseeker’s allowance to be applied to a person who, after caution, makes an admission of deception or fraud or agrees to pay a penalty as an alternative to prosecution.

Regulation 3 contains a transitional provision.

Regulation 4 makes a consequential revocation.

These Regulations correspond 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 Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.