2002 No. 299
HOUSING; RATES; SOCIAL SECURITY

The Social Security (Personal Injury Payments Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002

Made
Coming into operation
The Department for Social Development, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 122(1)(a) and (d), 132(4)(b) and (d) and 171(1), (3) and (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 19921 and Article 14(4)(b) and (d) of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 19952, and now vested in it3, and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel4, in so far as regulations 2(a) and 3(1) and (2)(a) are concerned, and after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee that proposals in respect of those regulations should not be referred to it5 hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Personal Injury Payments Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 and shall come into operation on 28th October 2002.

(2)

In these Regulations –

F1...6
“the Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19877;
“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19968.

(3)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19549 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Capital treated as income2.

There shall be added as –

F2(a)

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

(b)

regulation 41(6) of the Income Support Regulations11;

(c)

regulation 104(5) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations,

(which relate to capital treated as income), the following paragraph –

  • “Where an agreement or court order provides that payments shall be made to the claimant in consequence of any personal injury to the claimant and that such payments are to be made, wholly or partly, by way of periodical payments, any such periodical payments received by the claimant (but not a payment which is treated as capital by virtue of this Part), shall be treated as income.”.

Disregard of personal injury payments as income3.

(1)

In each of the provisions specified in paragraph (2) –

F3(a)

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

F3(b)

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

F3(c)

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

(d)

after sub-paragraph (5), there shall be added as sub-paragraph (6) in the provision specified in paragraph (2)(a) and as sub-paragraph (5A) in the provisions specified in paragraph (2)(b) and (c), the following sub-paragraph –

  • “In this paragraph, “relevant payment” means –

    1. (a)

      a charitable payment;

    2. (b)

      a voluntary payment;

    3. (c)

      a payment (not falling within sub-paragraph (a) or (b)) from a trust whose funds are derived from a payment made in consequence of any personal injury to the claimant;

    4. (d)

      a payment under an annuity purchased –

      1. (i)

        pursuant to any agreement or court order to make payments to the claimant; or

      2. (ii)

        from funds derived from a payment made,

      in consequence of any personal injury to the claimant; or

    5. (e)

      a payment (not falling within sub-paragraphs (a) to (d)) received by virtue of any agreement or court order to make payments to the claimant in consequence of any personal injury to the claimant.”.

(2)

The provisions specified for the purposes of paragraph (1) (which relate to sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) are –

F4(a)

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

(b)

paragraph 15 of Schedule 9 to the Income Support Regulations13;

(c)

paragraph 15 of Schedule 6 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations14.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 26th September 2002.

John O'Neill
Senior Officer of the
Department for Social Development

The Department of Finance and Personnel hereby consents to regulations 2(a) and 3(1) and (2)(a) of the forgoing Regulations.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Finance and Personnel on 27th September 2002.

N. Taylor
Senior Officer of the
Department of Finance and Personnel
(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 requires periodical payments received by virtue of any agreement or court order to make personal injury payments to the claimant to be treated as income. Regulation 3 provides that payments of income received from all trusts whose funds derive from personal injury payments to a claimant, from an annuity purchased with such funds and those received by virtue of any agreement or court order to make personal injury payments to the claimant, are to be disregarded in their entirety when used for items other than everyday living expenses and £20 of such income disregarded when used for such expenses.

In so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulations 2(a) and 3(1) and (2)(a), to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”), after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee, they have not been so referred by virtue of section 150(1)(b) of that Act. Otherwise they 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 1992 Act, 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 any charge on business.