The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012

Additional condition for the disability premium

10.—(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2) and paragraph 8, the additional condition referred to in paragraph 9 is that either—

(a) the applicant or, as the case may be, the applicant’s partner—

(i) is in receipt of one or more of the following benefits: attendance allowance, disability living allowance, personal independence payment, the disability element or the severe disability element of working tax credit as specified in regulation 20(1)(b) and (f) of the Working Tax Credit Regulations(1), mobility supplement, long-term incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance under Part 3 of the 1992 Act but, in the case of long-term incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, only where it is paid in respect of the applicant;

(ii) was in receipt of long-term incapacity benefit when entitlement to that benefit ceased on account of the payment of a retirement pension under that Act and the applicant remained continuously entitled to council tax benefit under the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992(2) or the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006(3) before 1st April 2013 and to council tax reduction from that date, and, if the long-term incapacity benefit was payable to the applicant’s partner, the partner is still a member of the family;

(iii) was in receipt of attendance allowance, disability living allowance or personal independence payment, but payment of the benefit has been suspended in accordance with regulations made under section 113(2) of the 1992 Act or section 86(1) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 or otherwise abated as a consequence of the applicant or the applicant’s partner becoming a patient within the meaning of regulation 28(11)(g) (treatment of child care charges);

(iv) is provided with an invalid carriage or other vehicle under section 46 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978(4) (“the 1978 Act”), paragraph 9(1) of Schedule 1 to the National Health Service Act 2006(5) (“the 2006 Act”) or article 30(1) of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972(6) or receives payments by way of grant from the Scottish Ministers under section 46 of the 1978 Act or the Secretary of State under paragraph 9(3) of Schedule 1 to the 2006 Act; or

(v) has been certified as blind and in consequence the applicant or the applicant’s partner is registered as blind in a register maintained by or on behalf of a local authority in Scotland or has been registered as blind, in a register compiled under section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948(7) (welfare services); or

(b) the applicant—

(i) is, or is treated as, incapable of work in accordance with the provisions of, and regulations made under, Part 12A of the 1992 Act (incapacity for work); and

(ii) has been incapable, or has been treated as incapable, of work for a continuous period of not less than—

(aa) in the case of an applicant who is terminally ill within the meaning of section 30B(4) of the 1992 Act(8), 196 days; and

(bb) in any other case, 364 days.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(a)(v), a person who has ceased to be registered as blind on that person regaining eyesight is nevertheless to be treated as blind and as satisfying the additional condition set out in that sub-paragraph for a period of 28 weeks following the date on which the person ceased to be registered as blind.

(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), once the disability premium is applicable to an applicant by virtue of the applicant satisfying the additional condition specified in that provision, if the applicant then ceases, for a period of 8 weeks or less, to be treated as incapable of work or to be incapable of work, on again becoming incapable of work the applicant is immediately to be treated as satisfying the condition in that sub-paragraph.

(4) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), once the disability premium is applicable to an applicant by virtue of the applicant satisfying the additional condition specified in that provision, the applicant is to continue to be treated as satisfying that condition for any period spent by the applicant in undertaking a course of training provided under section 2 of the 1973 Act(9) or section 2 of the Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990(10) or for any period during which the applicant is in receipt of a training allowance.

(5) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), where any two or more periods of incapacity are separated by a break of not more than 56 days, those periods are to be treated as one continuous period.

(6) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b), once the disability premium is applicable to an applicant by virtue of the applicant satisfying the additional condition specified in that provision, the applicant is to continue to be treated as satisfying that condition for any period spent by the applicant in undertaking a course of training provided under section 2 of the Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990 or section 2 of the 1973 Act .

(7) For the purposes of this paragraph, a reference to a person who is or was in receipt of long-term incapacity benefit includes a person who is or was in receipt of short-term incapacity benefit at a rate equal to the long-term rate by virtue of section 30B(4)(a) of the 1992 Act (short-term incapacity benefit for a person who is terminally ill) or who would be or would have been in receipt of short-term incapacity benefit at such a rate but for the fact that the rate of short-term incapacity benefit already payable to the person is or was equal to or greater than the long-term rate.

(8) In the case of an applicant who is a welfare to work beneficiary (a person to whom regulation 13A(1) of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations 1995(11) applies, and who again becomes incapable of work for the purposes of Part 12A of the 1992 Act)—

(a) the reference to a period of 8 weeks in sub-paragraph (3); and

(b) the reference to a period of 56 days in sub-paragraph (5),

is in each case to be treated as a reference to a period of 104 weeks.

(9) The applicant is not entitled to the disability premium if the applicant has, or is treated as having, limited capability for work.

(10) In this paragraph “invalid carriage or other vehicle” means a vehicle propelled by a petrol engine or by electric power supplied for use on the road and to be controlled by the occupant.

(1)

Regulation 20(1)(f) was amended by S.I. 2012/848.

(2)

S.I. 1992/1814.

(3)

S.I. 2006/215.

(4)

1978 c.29. Section 46 was amended by sections 17 and 114 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 (c.36).

(5)

2006 c.41. Paragraph 9(1) was substituted by section 17(10) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (c.7).

(6)

S.I. 1972/1265.

(7)

1948 c.29. Section 29 was amended by section 1 of the National Assistance (Amendment) Act 1959 (c.30), Schedule 4 to the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960 (c.61), Part 1 of Schedule 9 to the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 (c.49), section 195 of, and paragraph 2 of Schedule 23 and Schedule 30 to, the Local Government Act 1972 (c.70), paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Employment and Training Act 1973 (c.50), section 30 and Schedule 10 to the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983 (c.41), section 44 of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c.19), paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to the National Health Service (Consequential Provisions) Act 2006 (c.43) and section 147 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (c.14).

(8)

Section 30B was inserted by S.I. 1994/2926.

(9)

Section 2 was substituted by section 25 of the Employment Act 1988 (c.19) and amended by section 29 of, and Schedule 7 to, the Employment Act 1989 (c.38) and section 47 of the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 (c.19).

(10)

1990 c.35. Section 2 was amended by section 47 of, and Schedule 10 to, the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 (c. 19), paragraph 20 of Schedule 26 to the Equality Act 2010 (c.15) and S.I. 1999/1820.

(11)

S.I. 1995/311. Regulation 13A was inserted by S.I. 1998/2231. Regulation 13A(1) was amended by S.I. 2006/2378.