2010 No. 1651
The Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations 2010
Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1(2)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 73(1AB), 122, and 175(1), (2), (3) and (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19921 and sections 39(1), 79(1), (3) and (4) and 84 of the Social Security Act 19982.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions referred the proposals for these Regulations to the Social Security Advisory Committee3.
Citation and commencement1
1
These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations 2010.
2
These Regulations come into force:
a
for the purposes of assessing claims and making decisions on eligibility, on 15th October 2010; and
b
for all other purposes, on 11th April 2011.
Amendment of regulation 12 of the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 19912
1
Regulation 12 of the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 19914 is amended as follows.
2
After paragraph (1) insert—
1A
a
For the purposes of section 73(1AB)(a) of the Act (mobility component for the severely visually impaired) a person is to be taken to satisfy the condition that he has a severe visual impairment if—
i
he has visual acuity, with appropriate corrective lenses if necessary, of less than 3/60; or
ii
he has visual acuity of 3/60 or more, but less than 6/60, with appropriate corrective lenses if necessary, a complete loss of peripheral visual field and a central visual field of no more than 10° in total.
b
For the purposes of section 73(1AB)(b), the conditions are that he has been certified as severely sight impaired or blind by a consultant ophthalmologist.
c
In this paragraph—
i
references to visual acuity are to be read as references to the combined visual acuity of both eyes in cases where a person has both eyes;
ii
references to measurements of visual acuity are references to visual acuity measured on the Snellen Scale;
iii
references to visual field are to be read as references to the combined visual field of both eyes in cases where a person has both eyes.
Health care professionals3
For the purposes of section 39(1) of the Social Security Act 1998 (meaning of health care professional), in relation to a claim for disability living allowance under section 73(1AB) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the following persons are health care professionals—
a
an optometrist registered with the General Optical Council;
b
an orthoptist registered with the Health Professions Council.
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
(This note is not part of the Regulations)