The Social Security (Discretionary Housing Payments Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

Made28th June 2001

Coming into operation2nd July 2001

The Department for Social Development, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 122(1)(a) and (d), 129(4), 132(4)(b), and 171(1) and (3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 19921 and Article 14(4)(b) of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 19952, and now vested in it3, 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 (Discretionary Housing Payments Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 and shall come into operation on 2nd July 2001.

(2)

In these Regulations—

F1...

“the Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19875;

“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19966.

(3)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19547 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Disregard of discretionary housing payments2.

There shall be added as—

F2(a)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)

paragraph 71 of Schedule 9 to the Income Support Regulations9;

(c)

paragraph 67 of Schedule 6 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations10,

the following paragraph—

“Any discretionary housing payment paid pursuant to regulation 2(1) of the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 200111.”.

(2)

There shall be inserted as—

F3(a)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)

sub-paragraph (c) in paragraph 7 of Schedule 10 to the Income Support Regulations;

(c)

sub-paragraph (d) in paragraph 12 of Schedule 7 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations13,

the following sub-paragraph—

“Any discretionary housing payment paid pursuant to regulation 2(1) of the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001,”.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 28th June 2001.

John O'Neill

Senior Officer of the

Department for Social Development

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations further amend the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

In particular, regulation 2 provides that discretionary housing payments paid pursuant to the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 shall be disregarded as income in those benefits and that arrears of such payments shall be disregarded as capital for up to 52 weeks.

These Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 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.

These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.