Part 3: Other benefit changes
Section 64: Injuries arising before 5th July 1948
325.Section 64 repeals the legislation that maintains the existence of two separate schemes for providing State compensation for work injuries occurring before 1948.
326.At present there is separate provision for State compensation to be paid for accidents and diseases at work occurring before 5 July 1948 through the Workmen’s Compensation (Supplementation) Scheme 1982 and the Pneumoconiosis Byssinosis and Miscellaneous Diseases Benefit Scheme 1983. These two schemes are known collectively as the “pre-1948 schemes”. This legislation was left in place when the Industrial Injuries scheme was introduced in 1948.
327.This section will mean that all claims for State ‘no-fault’ compensation for work injuries will be dealt with as claims under the main Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) scheme regardless of when the disease or accident occurred.
328.Subsection (3) enables the Secretary of State to provide in regulations for all claims – new and outstanding – under the pre-1948 schemes to be treated as claims under the equivalent IIDB scheme. It is intended that such regulations will result in all claims being made, decided and appealed under the same rules that apply to IIDB.
Section 65: Trainees
329.Section 65 means that from the commencement date trainees will be paid under the main IIDB scheme rather than by the current separate ‘analogous’ scheme that exists solely for trainees.
330.As trainees are not ‘employed earners’ they are not currently entitled to IIDB through the main scheme. The Analogous Industrial Injuries (AIIS) scheme is a separate scheme for trainees who suffer an accident at work whilst participating in certain training schemes or courses that are funded out of public funds by the Young People’s Learning Agency and Skills Funding Agency in England (and equivalent bodies in Scotland and Wales).
331.Subsection (1) inserts a new section 95A into the SSCBA 1992 which will treat trainees as if they were in employed earner’s employment. This means that any trainees, who are injured by accident or disease whilst participating in prescribed training schemes or courses, will be able to access benefit under the main IIDB scheme, instead of the AIIS scheme.
332.Subsection (2) removes the powers in section 11(3) of the Employment and Training Act 1973 of the Secretary of State and Industrial Training Boards to make payments equivalent to those which might be paid for IIDB.
333.Subsection (3) enables the Secretary of State to provide in regulations for all claims – existing, and new - under the AIIS scheme to be treated as claims for industrial injuries benefits. It is intended that such regulations will result in all claims being made, decided and appealed under the same rules that apply to IIDB.
Section 66: Persons under 18
334.Section 66 will remove the significance of age 18 in Industrial Injuries Benefits legislation. This means all successful claims - existing and new - by under 18s will be paid at the normal IIDB scheme rate after the coming into force of the section.
Section 67: Restriction on new claims for industrial death benefit
335.Section 67 means that no claims can be made for Industrial Death Benefit (IDB) from the commencement date.
336.At present IDB is paid to widows or widowers in respect of industrial deaths occurring before 10 April 1988. Claims in respect of deaths in general after this date are paid under the Bereavement Benefit (BB) provisions. From the commencement date this section means claims for deaths due to industrial causes before 10 April 1988 will be considered under the BB legislation.
337.It is many years since any such claims have been made for IDB. New claims are now extremely unlikely as the death would have had to occur before 1988.
Section 68: Determinations
338.Section 68 abolishes the right to request an accident declaration. At present people are able to apply for a declaration that an industrial accident has occurred separately from making a claim for benefit and consequently may apply for IIDB many years after the accident occurred, relying on the accident declaration as evidence that a work-related accident occurred.
339.Subsection (1) repeals section 29(2) of the SSA 1998. This provides that people can apply for an accident declaration, confirming and recording an accident has occurred, even though they do not wish to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) at the time. Subsection (2) repeals the subsequent references to section 29(2).
340.The repeals mean that all accident declarations made prior to commencement remain final and that no further requests for an accident declaration can be made. If an accident causes disability at a later date, the status of the accident as an industrial accident will be investigated and decided in the usual manner by the decision-maker at the same time as the claim and the assessment of disability.
Section 69: Housing benefit: determination of appropriate maximum
341.Section 69 amends section 130A of the SSCBA 1992. Section 130A provides for the appropriate maximum housing benefit (AMHB) to be determined in accordance with regulations, including by reference to rent officer determinations. It is necessary to know the AMHB in a person’s case in order to determine whether they are entitled to housing benefit, and how much they are entitled to.
342.The amendments made by section 69 generalise section 130A to reflect the Secretary of State’s intention to exercise the powers in that section to provide for AMHB to be determined by methods other than by reference to rent officer determinations.
343.The Housing Benefit Regulations provide for AMHB to be determined by reference to a claimant’s eligible rent. Calculating a claimant’s eligible rent can involve treating the claimant’s liability to pay rent as something other than it actually is. The amendments made by section 69 generalise section 130A(5) and (6) to reflect the intention that regulations will provide for a claimant’s liability to pay rent to be treated as an amount other than the actual amount of the liability (whether that deemed amount is determined by reference to a rent officer determination or otherwise).
344.Using these powers the Secretary of State will bring forward regulations that will:
set out that eligible rent may be determined by reference to either rent officer determinations or the rate of CPI. Currently local housing allowance (LHA) determinations are made by rent officers. The amendments made by section 69 will ensure the Secretary of State has the power to set LHA rates from April 2013, by reference to the lower of either the CPI or the bottom 30th percentile of private sector rents.
introduce size criteria into the calculation of housing benefit for working age tenants in the social rented sector. The Secretary of State will prescribe the amount by which the claimant’s actual rent liability is to be reduced to reflect the additional bedrooms within the property; the claimant’s eligible rent will be restricted if their dwelling is larger than they need. A percentage reduction will be made based on the numbers of extra bedrooms, which will be prescribed in secondary legislation.
345.The first regulations under section 130A(5) and (6) will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Section 70: Ending of discretionary payments
346.Section 70(1) repeals section 138(1)(b) of the SSCBA 1992, which provides for payments of crisis loans, community care grants and budgeting loans from the discretionary social fund. Community care grants and crisis loans other than those currently available to applicants pending payment of benefit (“alignment loans”) will cease. Instead, in England, new locally-administered assistance will be provided by local authorities. In Scotland and Wales the Devolved Administrations will decide the most appropriate arrangements for assistance. Budgeting loans and alignment loans will be replaced by payments on account (see section 101).
347.The Social Fund Commissioner heads the Independent Review Service (IRS) whose inspectors carry out independent reviews of decisions on applications for discretionary social fund payments. The Commissioner and the IRS will no longer have this role when section 138(1)(b) is repealed and subsection (2) makes provision for the abolition of the office of the Commissioner. Subsections (6) and (7) enable the Secretary of State to make provision by order for the transfer of property, rights and liabilities from the Social Fund Commissioner.
348.Subsections (3) to (5) make provision for the transfer of monies from the social fund into the Consolidated Fund as the social fund is wound down. The Secretary of State will be able to transfer unused social fund monies into the Consolidated Fund, as well as monies received into the social fund as repayments of loans or repayment of overpayments of social fund payments. Under subsection (5) the Secretary of State will continue to be able to re-allocate for crisis loans, community care grants or budgeting loans purposes any amounts which had previously been allocated for other payments under section 138(1)(b).
349.Subsection (9) introduces Schedule 8 which makes consequential amendments resulting from the repeal of section 138(1)(b), including in paragraph 3 providing for recovery of Northern Ireland payments to continue by deduction from benefits. Paragraph 4 makes consequential amendments as a result of the abolition of discretionary social fund payments and the ending of the office of the Social Fund Commissioner to ensure that the Social Fund Commissioner and other former officers remain subject to the penalty for disclosure despite the office having ceased to exist.
Section 71: Purposes of discretionary payments
350.Section 138 of the SSCBA 1992 makes provision for social fund payments. Subsection (1)(a) provides for payments of prescribed amounts in respect of maternity and funeral expenses, while subsection (1)(b) allows the award of discretionary payments by way of community care grants, crisis loans or budgeting loans to meet other needs, which suggests that needs covered by payments under section 138(1)(a) may not be met by discretionary payments. Pending abolition of the discretionary social fund this section makes an amendment to section 138 (and section 72 makes amendments to section 140). Section 71 amends section 138(1)(b) to enable payment of budgeting loans for maternity and funeral expenses. Thus a person who applies for a maternity or funeral payment under the prescribed scheme may be able to apply for a budgeting loan to meet costs also covered by the prescribed payment.
Section 72: Determination of amount or value of budgeting loan
351.Section 140(1A) of the SSCBA 1992 sets out the factors to which decision makers are to have regard when considering applications for payments by way of social fund budgeting loans. Section 140(2) provides that the decision maker shall determine questions in accordance with the directions issued by the Secretary of State. For budgeting loans, the decision maker is required by section 140(1A)(b) to have regard, subject to directions and guidance under subsection (2), to any relevant allocation made by the Secretary of State under section 168 of the SSAA 1992. Using this allocation, the Secretary of State sets a national loans budget, and issues directions and guidance to decision makers who are required to apply a baseline figure when calculating the amount of a budgeting loan.
352.Section 71(2) amends section 140 to state in subsection (4) that the amount of a budgeting loan may be restricted to a maximum sum as specified in a direction made by the Secretary of State and subsection (3) inserts new subsection (4ZA) to provide that directions may require the maximum sum to be arrived at by reference to the baseline figure which is described in new subsection (4ZB).
Section 73: External provider social loans and community care grants
353.Provision was made in the WRA 2009 for loans to be made by external lenders in place of loans from the social fund and for awards of community care grants to be of items covered by contracts entered into by the Secretary of State. These provisions have not been commenced and the Government does not intend to use them, given its intention to abolish the discretionary social fund (see section 69). Section 73 therefore repeals sections 16 to 21 of the WRA 2009. Budgeting loans and those crisis loans called “alignment loans” (which are available pending payment of benefit) will be replaced by payments on account (see section 101). The Government intends that, when community care grants and those crisis loans which are not alignment loans cease to exist, assistance will instead be administered locally. Local authorities in England will be free to deliver support in whatever form they consider is most appropriate. The Devolved Administrations will determine the most appropriate arrangements for Scotland and Wales.
Section 74: State pension credit: carers
354.Section 74 amends SPCA 2002 to change the entitlement conditions for the additional amount of the guarantee credit in respect of caring responsibilities, to remove the explicit link to carer’s allowance in that Act.
355.Currently a claimant is entitled to the additional amount if the claimant or their partner is entitled to carer’s allowance. Subsection (2) amends section 2(8) of SPCA 2002 so that a claimant is entitled to the additional amount if they or their partner have regular and substantial caring responsibilities. Subsection (3) amends section 17 of the SPCA 2002 to provide that the Secretary of State will prescribe what is meant by regular and substantial caring responsibilities in regulations. The intention is that this definition will cover, but not be limited to, people entitled to carer’s allowance.
Section 75: State pension credit: capital limit
356.When housing benefit is abolished, housing support for claimants above the qualifying age for state pension credit will be provided through the housing credit, by virtue of section 34. While there is currently no capital limit for entitlement to state pension credit a claimant may only be entitled to housing benefit if they have capital below a certain level. Section 75 allows for a capital limit to be applied to state pension credit. Section 19 of SPCA 2002 is amended to provide that the first regulations made under the new subsection 1(2)(d) inserted into SPCA 2002 will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Section 76: Calculation of working tax credit
357.Section 76 modifies regulation 7(3) of the Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) Regulations 2002 so as to change the rate at which working tax credit is withdrawn from 39 per cent to 41 per cent for the tax year 2011/2012. This modification corrects an omission in secondary legislation that amended the 2002 regulations. Subsection (2) ensures that decisions already taken by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs since 6 April 2011 on the basis of a 41 per cent withdrawal rate are treated as having been correctly made.
