This Statutory Instrument has been made partly in consequence of defects in S.I.1992/2977 and is being issued free of charge to all known recipients of that Statutory Instrument.

1993 No. 964

NATIONAL ASSISTANCE SERVICES

The National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations 1993

Made31st March 1993

Laid before Parliament1st April 1993

Coming into force22nd April 1993

In exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 22(5) of the National Assistance Act 19481 and of all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I hereby make the following Regulations—

Citation, commencement and interpretation1

1

These Regulations may be cited as the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations 1993 and shall come into force on 22nd April 1993.

2

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, “the principal Regulations” means the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 19922.

Amendment of regulation 2 of the principal Regulations2

In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 of the principal Regulations (interpretation)—

a

after the definition of “attendance allowance”, there shall be inserted:

“child support maintenance” shall be construed in accordance with section 3(6) of the Child Support Act 19913;

b

for the definition of “the Independent Living Fund” there shall be substituted:

“the Independent Living Funds” has the same meaning as in the Income Support Regulations4;

c

before the definition of “invalidity pension” there shall be inserted:

“invalid care allowance” means an invalid care allowance under the Contributions and Benefits Act5;

Amendment in relation to child support maintenance3

After regulation 6 of the principal Regulations there shall be inserted the following regulation—

Child support maintenance6A
1
Except in circumstances where paragraph (2) applies, any payment of child support maintenance to a resident shall not be treated as part of a resident’s income or capital for the purposes of these Regulations.
2
Where a resident is accompanied by a child and accommodation is provided for that child under Part III of the Act6, any payment of child support maintenance made in respect of that child to the resident shall be treated as part of the income of the resident and Part IV of these Regulations (liable relatives) shall not apply to any such payment.

Amendments in relation to the calculations of income and capital4

1

In each of the provisions to which paragraph (2) below refers, for the words “from the calculation of” there shall be substituted the words “in the calculation of”.

2

Those provisions are regulations 11(3) (calculation of net profit of self-employed earners), 14(2) (calculation of net earnings of employed earners), 15(2) (calculation of income other than earnings), and 21(2) (calculation of capital) of the principal Regulations.

Amendments in relation to payments by third parties5

1

After paragraph (3) of regulation 16 of the principal Regulations (capital treated as income) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

4
Any payment of capital made or due to be made to a local authority by a third party pursuant to an agreement between the local authority and the third party in connection with the liability of the resident to pay the local authority for his accommodation shall be treated as part of the income of the resident, unless it is a voluntary payment made for the purpose of discharging any arrears of payments required by the local authority from the resident for his accommodation.

2

At the beginning of paragraph (4) of regulation 17 of the principal Regulations (notional income) there shall be inserted the words “Subject to paragraph (5),”.

3

After paragraph (4) of regulation 17 of the principal Regulations there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

5
A resident shall not be treated as possessing any voluntary payment of income made by a third party to a local authority for the purpose of discharging any arrears of the payments required by the local authority from the resident for his accommodation.

4

After paragraph (7) of regulation 22 of the principal Regulations (income treated as capital) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

8
Any voluntary payment of income made by a third party to a resident for the purpose of helping the resident to discharge any arrears of the payments required by the local authority from the resident for his accommodation shall be treated as capital of the resident.

5

In regulation 25 of the principal Regulations (notional capital), paragraph (4) is omitted.

6

In paragraph (5) of regulation 25, for the words “any of paragraphs (1), (2) or (4)”there shall be substituted the words “paragraph (1) or (2)”.

7

In paragraph 8(3)(b) of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations (transitional provisions), for the words “in regulation 25(4)” there shall be substituted the words “in regulation 16(4)”.

Amendment in relation to the Independent Living Funds6

In paragraph (7) of regulation 22 of the principal Regulations (income treated as capital), for the words “the Independent Living Fund” there shall be substituted the words “the Independent Living Funds”.

Amendment in relation to capital jointly held7

In paragraph (2) of regulation 27 of the principal Regulations (capital jointly held), for sub-paragraph (a) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

a
the resident’s share shall be valued at an amount equal to the price which his interest in possession would realise if it were sold to a willing buyer (taking into account the likely effect on that price of any incumbrance secured on the whole beneficial interest), less 10 per cent and the amount of any incumbrance secured solely on the resident’s share of the whole beneficial interest; and

Amendment of Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations8

1

In paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of earnings), for the words “or interrupted” there shall be substituted the words “or is interrupted”.

2

In paragraph 3(2)(a) of Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations, after the words “by way of” there shall be inserted the words “a carer premium or a”.

3

In paragraph 3(2)(b)(i) of Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations, after the words “an invalidity pension,” there shall be added the words “an invalid care allowance”.

Amendment of Schedule 4 to the principal Regulations9

In Schedule 4 to the principal Regulations, for paragraph 2 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

2
1
Subject to sub-paragraph (2), the value of any premises which would be disregarded under paragraph 2 or 4 of Schedule 10 to the Income Support Regulations7 (premises acquired for occupation, and premises occupied by a partner, a former partner or a relative).
2
For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), paragraph 4 of Schedule 10 to the Income Support Regulations shall apply as if for the words “that person is aged 60 or over or is incapacitated” there were substituted the words “that partner or relative is aged 60 or over, is incapacitated or is a child whom the resident is liable to maintain by virtue of section 42(1) of the National Assistance Act 19488 (liability to maintain wife or husband and children)”

Virginia BottomleyOne of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of StateDepartment of Health31st March 1993

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make amendments to the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992 (“the principal Regulations”).

Regulation 3 inserts a new Regulation 6A into the principal Regulations to take account of the implementation of the Child Support Act 1991. Child support maintenance payments which are made to a resident in respect of a child living with the resident are to be treated as income other than earnings.

Regulation 4 amends regulations 11, 14, 15 and 21 of the principal Regulations to correct a minor drafting error which occurs in each of those provisions.

Regulation 5 makes amendments to regulations 16, 17, 22 and 25 of and paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations in relation to the treatment of payments by a third party towards the cost of a resident’s accommodation. These provide that voluntary payments in respect of any arrears due to a local authority which are made over directly to the authority are not to be taken into account, payments of income in respect of such arrears which are made over initially to the resident are to be treated as capital, and payments of capital in connection with the liability of the resident to pay for accommodation are otherwise to be treated as income.

Two new trust funds, the Independent Living (Extension) Fund and the Independent Living (1993) Fund, have been established, and regulation 6 makes an amendment to regulation 22 of the principal Regulations which is consequential upon the establishment of those funds.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 27 of the principal Regulations relating to the treatment of jointly held beneficial interests in land. This is to correct a drafting error in that provision, and the relevant provision has also been redrafted to make clear that any incumbrance secured on the whole beneficial interest should not be disregarded when valuing the resident’s share.

Regulation 8(1) corrects an error in paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations to provide that the relevant part of that paragraph is to continue to have effect after a period of interruption in the resident’s employment as a self-employed earner has ended. Regulation 8(2) and (3) amends Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations to enable residents in receipt of a carer premium under the income support scheme or of an invalid care allowance to qualify for the higher earnings disregard.

Regulation 9 substitutes a new paragraph 2 of Schedule 10 to the principal Regulations to require local authorities to disregard the value of any premises occupied in whole or in part by a child whom the resident is liable to maintain by virtue of section 42(1) of the National Assistance Act 1948, in addition to the amounts previously disregarded under the original paragraph.