The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 5) Regulations 2007

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend a number of different regulations relating to social security.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 8(1) of the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations 1976 so as to replace the reference to the lower earnings limit with a reference to “£95” for the purposes of ascertaining whether a person is gainfully employed.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 16 of the Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982 to increase the prescribed amount of earnings in a year, for the purposes of Part 1 of Schedule 7 to the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (earnings level for unemployability supplement), from £4,472 to £4,602.

Regulations 5, 8 and 10 to 13 amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (“the Income Support Regulations”), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 (“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations”), the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002, the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 so that all capital assets are taken into account by reference to their current market or surrender value.

Regulations 5, 8, 11 and 13 and the Schedule amend the Income Support Regulations, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations, the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 so as to:

• ensure that no notional income is taken into account in calculating benefit for a person who participates in an approved, unpaid, work placement provided this is agreed before the placement starts;

• remove obsolete references arising from the cessation of the bereavement premium in April 2006;

• introduce an aggregate disregard of £20 a week of income received from sub-tenants;

• introduce a new disregard for most earnings normally paid on the termination of employment where this occurs before the date in respect of which the claimant first satisfies the conditions for entitlement to benefit.

Regulations 5, 8, 11 to 14 and the Schedule amend the Income Support Regulations, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations, the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 to substitute references to the “lower rate” of tax with “starting rate” following changes made by the Income Tax Act 2007.

Regulations 5 and 8 amend the Income Support Regulations and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations so as to:

• replace references to the repealed Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 with references to relevant provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996;

• remove miscellaneous incorrect cross-references.

Regulation 6 amends the Social Security (Incapacity Benefit) Regulations 1994. Paragraphs (2) and (3) amend regulation 4A to provide for certain days to be treated as days of incapacity for work. Paragraph (4) amends regulation 8 to increase the prescribed amount for the purposes of section 30E(1) of the 1992 Act (net amount of councillor’s allowance in excess of prescribed amount to be deducted from incapacity benefit) from £86.00 to £88.50.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 17 of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations 1995 to increase the exempt work limits in paragraphs (3) and (4) from £86.00 to £88.50.

Regulations 9 and 11 to 14 amend the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001, the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 in consequence of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which comes into force (in general terms) on 1st October 2007.

Regulation 10 amends the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 so as to:

• add “occupational pension scheme” to the definition of “pension fund holder”;

• ensure that, for the purposes of calculating notional income, only the amount of benefit which would have been in payment had the State Pension been claimed shall be taken into account;

• correct a typographical error in the formula for calculating the qualifying portion of a home loan or mortgage eligible for help as housing costs where there is more than one such loan and their total is greater than £100,000.

Regulations 11 and 12 amend the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 to allow a person to claim Housing Benefit where that person moves to a new dwelling within the same local authority area and the person is liable to make payments in respect of the new dwelling before moving in provided other relevant conditions, including as to the reason for delay, are met.

The Schedule revokes regulation 8 of the Income-related Benefits Schemes and Social Fund (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996 as there are no longer any “transitional students” within the meaning of these Regulations.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on business, charities or the voluntary sector is foreseen.