Legal background
- The Means-tested Additional Payments and the Disability Additional Payments are new Social Security Payments created by this legislation. Eligibility for these additional payments requires entitlement to qualifying means-tested or disability benefits, as determined under the legislation for the relevant qualifying benefit. Further details of the relevant legislation for the qualifying benefits are set out below in the Section commentary as required. The existing legislation for the qualifying benefits remains unchanged.
- These payments will be delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This will require data sharing in order to avoid duplication of payments. In addition, data sharing with the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive will be needed in order to ensure these payments are delivered to recipients there. DWP and HMRC are expected to cooperate in exercising their functions in relation to additional payments through existing data sharing provisions. This Act does apply some modifications to provisions as required to enable data sharing for the purpose of delivering these new payments. Modifications to s.127 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 enable data sharing between HMRC and DWP. Modifications to s.3 of the Social Security Act 1998 allow data sharing between DWP, MoD, HMRC and the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland. Section 34 of the Scotland Act 2016 is modified to allow data sharing between DWP and the Scottish Ministers for the purpose of delivering these new payments.
- These additional payments are being legislated for as a new benefit reserved in Great Britain. Social Security is reserved in Scotland, but there are some exceptions to this reservation which are set out in Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998. Neither of the Additional Payments falls within any of the exceptions and they are therefore reserved. While some of the disability benefits are devolved in Scotland, the Disability Additional Payments themselves are not, as they are new payments for the purpose of responding to increases in cost of living.
- Social Security is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland (NI) (except for tax credits which is an excepted matter) but in the absence of a fully functional Assembly, Parliament will legislate for Northern Ireland to provide parity of availability to these Additional Payments for means-tested and disability benefit recipients in Northern Ireland.
