2003 No. 2693
SOCIAL SECURITY

The Income Support (General) (Standard Interest Rate Amendment) Regulations 2003

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 123(1)(a), 135(1), 137(1) and 175(1) and (3) to (5) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19921, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee that proposals in respect of these Regulations should not be referred to it2, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

These Regulations shall be cited as the Income Support (General) (Standard Interest Rate Amendment) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 16th November 2003.

(2)

In these Regulations, “the Decisions and Appeals Regulations” means the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 19993 and “the Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations 19874.

(3)

These Regulations shall have effect in relation to any particular claimant—

(a)

in a case where income support is paid to the claimant in arrears, in accordance with paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 3A to the Decisions and Appeals Regulations5 (date on which change of circumstances takes effect in certain cases where a claimant is in receipt of income support)—

(i)

from the first day of the benefit week which includes 23rd November 2003; or

(ii)

if the claim for income support is for a period commencing after 23rd November 2003, from the first day of the first benefit week commencing after 16th November 2003;

(b)

in a case where income support is paid to the claimant in advance, in accordance with paragraph 1(b) of Schedule 3A to the Decisions and Appeals Regulations from the first day of the first benefit week commencing after 23rd November 2003,

and for this purpose, the expressions “claimant” and “benefit week” have the same meanings as in regulation 2(1) of the Income Support Regulations6 (interpretation).

Amendment of Schedule 3 to the Income Support Regulations2.

In paragraph 12(1)(a) of Schedule 3 to the Income Support Regulations7 (standard rate of interest on qualifying loans), for the words “5.34 per cent.” there shall be substituted the words “5.07 per cent.”.

Revocation of the Income Support (General) (Standard Interest Rate Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 20023.

The Income Support (General) (Standard Interest Rate Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 20028 are hereby revoked save that those Regulations shall continue to have effect until the first day of the benefit week having effect in relation to any particular claimant for the purpose of regulation 1(3) of these Regulations.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Chris Pond
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
Department for Work and Pensions
(This note is not part of the Order)

These Regulations amend Schedule 3 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967), as substituted and amended, with respect to the standard rate of interest applicable to a loan which qualifies for income support under that Schedule to those Regulations. The new rate is 5.07 per cent. (regulation 2). The Regulations also revoke, with a saving provision, regulations which made the previous amendment to that standard rate of interest (regulation 3).

These Regulations do not impose a charge upon business.