The Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 2005

PART II PAYMENTS FOR MATERNITY EXPENSES

Entitlement

5.—(1) Subject to regulation 6, a payment to meet maternity expenses (referred to in these Regulations as a “Sure Start Maternity Grant”) shall be made where—

(a) the claimant or the claimant’s partner has, in respect of the date of the claim for a Sure Start Maternity Grant, been awarded—

(i) income support,

(ii) state pension credit,

(iii) income-based jobseeker’s allowance,

(iv) working tax credit where the disability element or the severe disability element of working tax credit as specified in regulation 20(1)(b) and (f) of the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002(1) is included in the award, or

(v) child tax credit payable at a rate higher than the family element; and

(b) either—

(i) the claimant or, if the claimant is a member of a family, one of the family is pregnant or has given birth to a child or still-born child, or

(ii) the claimant or the claimant’s partner or both of them have adopted a child not exceeding the age of twelve months at the date of the claim, or

(iii) the claimant and the claimant’s spouse have been granted an order in respect of a child pursuant to section 30 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (parental orders); and

(c) subject to paragraph (3)—

(i) the claimant or partner has received advice on health and welfare matters relating to the child from a health professional, and

(ii) where the claim is made before the child is born, the claimant or partner has received advice on health and welfare matters relating to maternal health from a health professional; and

(d) the claim is made within the prescribed time for claiming a Sure Start Maternity Grant.

(2) The amount of a Sure Start Maternity Grant shall be £500 in respect of each child or still-born child.

(3) Paragraph (1)(c)(i) shall not apply where a claim is made after the birth of a still-born child.

Persons affected by a trade dispute

6.—(1) Where the claimant or the claimant’s partner is a person affected by a trade dispute, a Sure Start Maternity Grant shall be made only if—

(a) in the case where the claimant or the claimant’s partner is in receipt of income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance, the trade dispute has, at the date of the claim for that payment, continued for not less than six weeks; or

(b) in the case where the claimant or the claimant’s partner is in receipt of—

(i) working tax credit where the disability element or the severe disability element of working tax credit as specified in regulation 20(1)(b) and (f) of the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002 is included in the award, or

(ii) child tax credit payable at a rate higher than the family element,

the “relevant claim” was made before the beginning of the trade dispute.

(2) In paragraph (1)(b), the relevant claim means the claim in respect of which a tax credit of the type referred to in head (i) or (ii) of that sub-paragraph was awarded.

(1)

S.I. 2002/2005.