The Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make amendments to the Council Tax Reduction (State Pension Credit) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (“the 2012 Regulations”) and the Council Tax Reduction (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (“the 2021 Regulations”) in consequence of the Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2023 (S.I. 2023/134) (“the Remedial Order”) which came into force on 9 February 2023. By virtue of the Remedial Order, entitlement to bereavement benefits is extended to survivors of cohabiting partnerships who have dependent children. Previously these payments were only available to eligible bereaved parents who were married or in a civil partnership.

Regulation 2 amends the 2012 Regulations so that certain lump sum payments of Bereavement Support Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance made to the survivors of cohabiting partnerships are disregarded when calculating an applicant’s capital for the purposes of entitlement to a council tax reduction. Any lump sum payment of Bereavement Support Payment at the higher rate as set out in regulation 3(1) of the Bereavement Support Regulations 2017, or lump sum payment of Widowed Parent’s Allowance, made to the surviving partner of a cohabiting relationship as a result of a death occurring before the coming into force of the Remedial Order, will be disregarded for a period of 52 weeks. This period will run from the date the payment is received or, where it is received before these Regulations come into force, from the date of the coming into force of these Regulations, namely 15 May 2023.

Regulation 3 makes similar amendments to the 2021 Regulations.