Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016

Territorial extent and application

67. The following provisions extend and apply across the whole of the UK:

    1. the duty to report annually on progress towards the Government's objective of full employment;
    2. the duty to publish data on children in low-income households annually;
    3. freeze of tax credits and child benefit;
    4. changes to child tax credit.

68. The following provisions extend and apply to England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland is responsible for its own social security system):

    1. changes to benefit cap;
    2. freeze of certain social security benefits;
    3. changes to child element of universal credit;
    4. the removal of the work-related activity component in employment and support allowance and the limited capability for work element in universal credit;
    5. conditionality for responsible carers in universal credit;
    6. loans for mortgage interest etc;
    7. expenses of paying sums in respect of vehicle hire etc.

69. The following provisions extend to England and Wales but apply to England only:

    1. apprenticeships duty;
    2. the duty to report annually on the progress of the Troubled Families Programme (the delivery of similar programmes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a devolved matter);
    3. the social housing rent provisions.

70. The life chances provisions extend across the whole of the UK but some sections apply as follows:

    1. the duty to report annually on measures of children living in workless households and the educational attainment of children at Key stage 4 applies to England only;
    2. the duty on the relevant Northern Ireland department to produce a strategy which sets out the measures it proposes to take to ensure, as far as possible, that children in Northern Ireland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage only applies to Northern Ireland ;
    3. the duty on the renamed Social Mobility Commission (the Commission) in relation to promoting social mobility and advising Ministers, if requested, on how to improve social mobility, applies to England only;
    4. the duty on the Commission to report on progress made towards improving social mobility applies to the UK;
    5. the duty on the Commission in relation to reporting annually after the appointed day for Northern Ireland on the measures taken to ensure , as far as possible, that children in Northern Ireland do not experience socio-economic disadvantage, only applies to Northern Ireland;
    6. the power of a Minister of the Crown to direct the Commission to carry out any other activity relating to improving social mobility applies to England and Northern Ireland only.