The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2019

Made9th October 2019

Laid before the Scottish Parliament11th October 2019

Coming into force26th November 2019

The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 80 and 113(1) and paragraph 1 of schedule 2 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 F1 and all other powers enabling them to do so.

Annotations:

Amendments (Textual)

1992 c.14. Section 80 and paragraph 1 of schedule 2 were amended by paragraph 176 of schedule 13 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c.39). There are other amendments to section 80 and amendments to section 113(1) that are not relevant to these Regulations. The functions of the Secretary of State, in so far as within devolved competence, were transferred to the Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c.46).

Citation and commencementI11

These Regulations may be cited as the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment (No. 3) Regulations 2019 and come into force on 26 November 2019.

Amendment of the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012F72

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

Amendment of the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012I23

The Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 F2 are amended in accordance with paragraphs (a) and (b)—

a

in schedule 3 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), after paragraph 23 insert—

24
Any payment or interest on a payment made under, or in connection with, the Windrush Compensation Scheme F3 administered by the Home Office.

b

in schedule 4 (capital to be disregarded)—

i

in paragraph 21 (disregard of payments related to benefit arrears) F4, after sub-paragraph (2)(i) insert—

ia
maternity allowance under section 35 of the 1992 Act,

ii

after paragraph 30E F5 insert—

30F
Any payment or interest on a payment made under, or in connection with, the Windrush Compensation Scheme administered by the Home Office F6.

KATE FORBES Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers St Andrew's House, Edinburgh

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (“the 2012 Regulations”) and the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

Regulation 2(a) provides for an amount to be taken into account in calculating a person's deemed living expenses under the 2012 Regulations. This arises where, as a result of there being more than two children or qualifying young persons, section 10(1A) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 provides for no amount to be included in a universal credit calculation for children born on or after 6 April 2017. The effect is to ensure parity of treatment for all households with children in the scheme provided by the 2012 Regulations, irrespective of when a child was born.

Regulation 2(b) provides that local authorities must disregard payments under a transitional arrangement within the universal credit scheme when calculating a person's income under the 2012 Regulations.

Regulation 2(c) and (d) provide that local authorities must disregard certain payments in the calculation of income and capital for the purposes of the 2012 Regulations. These are payments under the Carer's Assistance (Young Carer Grants) (Scotland) Regulations 2019, and payments or interest on payments made under the Windrush Compensation Scheme administered by the Home Office.

Regulation 2(d) also provides that payments of arrears of maternity allowance must be disregarded in calculating a person's capital in the 2012 Regulations, though these payments are to continue to be taken into account as income for council tax reduction purposes.

Regulation 3 makes equivalent provision to that in regulation 2 which relates to the Windrush Compensation Scheme and payment of arrears of maternity allowance, for the purposes of the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.