The Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998 (“the principal Order”) which provides for subsidy to be payable to authorities administering housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Section 140F(2) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 authorises the varying of an Order before, during or after the year to which it relates. Except where article 1(2)(a) and (b) provide that amendments are to have effect from 1st April 2002 or 1st April 2004 respectively, the amendments made by this Order have effect from 1st April 2003.

Article 4 amends Part III of the principal Order which is concerned with the calculation of subsidy. Article 14 is amended so that in a case where subsidy would fall to be calculated in accordance with that article and a specified provision of article 17, only the latter is to apply. A new article 15A is inserted to make provision for the amount to be deducted from qualifying expenditure, when calculating rent rebate subsidy for housing authorities in Wales, where the rent charged by the authority has increased by more than an amount determined in accordance with that article. Article 17 is amended to reduce from 12.5 per cent to 10 per cent of the relevant qualifying expenditure the appropriate amount which is included for the purposes of determining subsidy in relation to board and lodging accommodation. A new paragraph (4ZA) is inserted in article 18 so that certain overpayments which were made during a specified period in 2003 following the introduction of new tax credits are to be treated as ‘departmental error overpayments’ rather than ‘authority error overpayments’.

Article 21 is amended to introduce with effect from 2002 new arrangements for additional amounts of subsidy to be payable where an authority has undertaken activities in accordance with Circulars specified in that article, and in consequence Schedule 5 (which set out the former arrangements for additional amounts of subsidy for that purpose) is omitted. A number of other minor and consequential changes are also made in Part II and Part III of the principal Order.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.