The Tax Credits Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments No. 4) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2000
Citation, commencement and interpretation1.
(1)
These Regulations may be cited as the Tax Credits Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments No. 4) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 28th November 2000.
(2)
In these Regulations—
“award periods” means award periods of disabled person’s tax credit or, as the case may be, working families' tax credit;
Amendments to the Disability Working Allowance Regulations and the Family Credit Regulations2.
Amend the Disability Working Allowance Regulations and the Family Credit Regulations in accordance with the provisions of regulations 3 to 9.
Persons treated as being in Northern Ireland3.
(1)
Amend regulation 3 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations and regulation 3 of the Family Credit Regulations as follows.
(2)
“or
(e)
he is a person who—
(i)
has been given leave to enter, or remain in, the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State upon the undertaking of another person, or persons, pursuant to the immigration rules within the meaning of the Immigration Act 19718, to be responsible for his maintenance and accommodation, and(ii)
has been resident in the United Kingdom for a period of at least 5 years beginning with his date of entry into the United Kingdom, or the date on which the undertaking was given in respect of him, whichever is the later, or
(f)
he is a person who—
(i)
has been given leave to enter, or remain in, the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State upon the undertaking of another person, or persons, pursuant to the immigration rules mentioned in sub-paragraph (e) above, to be responsible for his maintenance and accommodation, and
(ii)
has been resident in the United Kingdom for less than 5 years beginning with his date of entry into the United Kingdom, or the date on which the undertaking was given in respect of him, whichever is the later, but the person giving the undertaking has died or, where the undertaking was given by more than one person, they have all died.”.
(3)
This regulation shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 28th November 2000.
Remunerative work4.
(1)
Amend regulation 6 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations and regulation 4 of the Family Credit Regulations as follows.
(2)
“(f)
he is in receipt of an employment zone subsistence allowance.”.
(3)
(4)
“(4B)
Any period where a person is absent from work by reason of jury service shall be disregarded in establishing the average hours for which he is engaged in work.”.
(5)
“(d)
cannot satisfy the requirements of sub-paragraph (a) or (b) above and at the date of claim he is absent from work by reason of jury service but he is expected by his employer to work or, where he is a self-employed earner, he expects to work, not less than 16 hours in the week following his return to work from that jury service,”.
(6)
This regulation shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 28th November 2000.
Normal weekly earnings of employed earner5.
(1)
Amend regulation 16 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (“ regulation 16”) and regulation 14 of the Family Credit Regulations (“ regulation 14”) as follows.
(2)
(a)
after “place of employment,” insert “or where at the date of claim the claimant is absent from work by reason of jury service,”;
(b)
after “period of short-time working” in the second place where those words appear add “or jury service”.
(3)
In paragraph (3) of regulation 14 after “at his place of employment ” in both places where those words appear insert “or because of his absence from work by reason of jury service”.
(4)
This regulation shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 28th November 2000.
Income and capital6.
(1)
Amend regulation 34 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations and regulation 31 of the Family Credit Regulations as follows.
(2)
“(9)
Any bounty derived from employment as a member of any territorial or reserve force prescribed in Part I of Schedule 3 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 197914 and paid at intervals of at least one year shall be treated as capital.”.
(3)
This regulation shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 28th November 2000.
Students7.
(1)
Amend regulation 41 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations and regulation 37 of the Family Credit Regulations as follows.
(2)
In the definition of “course of study” omit “full-time”.
(3)
(4)
This regulation shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 2nd January 2001.
Income to be disregarded8.
(1)
Amend Schedule 3 to the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (“ Schedule 3”) and Schedule 2 to the Family Credit Regulations (“Schedule 2”) as follows.
(2)
(3)
“In the case of a claimant participating in an employment zone scheme, any payment under the scheme by way of monies accumulated in order to assist in the pursuit of self-employed earner’s employment which are paid after the claimant has ceased to participate in the scheme.”.
(4)
“In the case of a claimant who is absent from work by reason of jury service, any payment to the claimant in respect of loss of earnings by reason of that jury service.”.
(5)
The amendments made by paragraph (2) above shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 10th April 2001.
(6)
The amendments made by paragraphs (3) and (4) above shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 28th November 2000.
Capital to be disregarded9.
(1)
Amend Schedule 4 to the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (“ Schedule 4”) and Schedule 3 to the Family Credit Regulations (“Schedule 3”) as follows.
(2)
“Any payment by way of Job Grant pursuant to arrangements made under section 2(1) of the Employment and Training Act 1973, but only for a period of 52 weeks from the date of payment.”.
(3)
This regulation shall have effect in relation to award periods commencing on or after 10th April 2001.
Amendments to the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 198710.
(1)
(2)
(a)
“(e)
in the case of a claim for working families' tax credit, the claimant had previously been entitled, or the partner of the claimant had previously been entitled in relation to the claimant, to income support or jobseeker’s allowance and the claim for working families' tax credit was made within one month of—
(i)
the expiry of entitlement to income support ignoring any period in which entitlement resulted from the person entitled not being treated as engaged in remunerative work by virtue of regulation 6(2) and (3) of the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 198722; or(ii)
the expiry of entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance;”;
(b)
“(h)
in the case of a claim for disabled person’s tax credit, the claimant had previously been entitled to income support, jobseeker’s allowance, incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance and the claim for disabled person’s tax credit was made within one month of—
(i)
the expiry of entitlement to income support ignoring any period in which entitlement resulted from the claimant not being treated as engaged in remunerative work by virtue of regulation 6(2) and (3) of the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987; or
(ii)
the expiry of entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance, incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance;
(ha)
in the case of a claim for disabled person’s tax credit, the partner of the claimant had previously been entitled in relation to the claimant to income support or jobseeker’s allowance, and the claim for disabled person’s tax credit was made within one month of—
(i)
the expiry of entitlement to income support ignoring any period in which entitlement resulted from the partner of the claimant not being treated as engaged in remunerative work by virtue of regulation 6(2) and (3) of the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987; or
(ii)
the expiry of entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance;”.
(3)
This regulation shall have effect with respect only to working families' tax credit and disabled person’s tax credit.
These Regulations amend the Family Credit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (S.R. 1987 No. 463) (“the Family Credit Regulations”) and the Disability Working Allowance (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 (S.R. 1992 No. 78) (“the Disability Working Allowance Regulations”). These Regulations amend also the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (S.R. 1987 No. 465) but with respect only to working families' tax credit and disabled person’s tax credit.
Regulation 1 provides for citation, commencement and interpretation.
Regulation 2 introduces regulations 3 to 9 which set out the amendments to the Family Credit Regulations and the Disability Working Allowance Regulations.
Regulation 3 amends regulation 3 of the Family Credit Regulations and regulation 5 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (persons treated as being in Northern Ireland) and extends the categories of persons who are treated as being in Northern Ireland.
Regulation 4 amends regulation 4 of the Family Credit Regulations and regulation 6 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (remunerative work) so as to not treat persons as engaged in remunerative work insofar as they are in receipt of an employment zone subsistence allowance. The amendments also make provision so as to ensure that an absence from work by reason of jury service does not affect entitlement to working families' tax credit or disabled person’s tax credit.
Regulation 5 amends regulation 14 of the Family Credit Regulations and regulation 16 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (normal weekly earnings of employed earner). The amendments again make provision so as to ensure that an absence from work by reason of jury service does not affect entitlement to working families' tax credit or disabled person’s tax credit.
Regulation 6 amends regulation 31 of the Family Credit Regulations and regulation 34 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (income treated as capital) so as to treat as capital certain bounty payments paid to a member of reserve or auxiliary forces.
Regulation 7 amends regulation 37 of the Family Credit Regulations and regulation 41 of the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (interpretation) so as to ensure that part-time students are treated in the same way as full-time students.
Regulation 8 amends Schedule 2 to the Family Credit Regulations and Schedule 3 to the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (income to be disregarded) so as to add payments by way of Job Grant, certain payments under employment zone schemes and payments in respect of loss of earnings by reason of jury service to the categories of income to be disregarded.
Regulation 9 amends Schedule 3 to the Family Credit Regulations and Schedule 4 to the Disability Working Allowance Regulations (capital to be disregarded) so as to add payments by way of Job Grant for a period of 52 weeks from the date of payment to the categories of capital to be disregarded.
Regulation 10 amends regulation 19 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (time for claiming benefit) so as to extend the circumstances in which claims for working families' tax credit and disabled person’s tax credit may be backdated.