# The Child Support Departure Direction and Consequential Amendments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, Regulation 15: Illness or disability

Extent: N.I.

(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4), the costs being met by the applicant in respect of the items listed in sub-paragraphs (a) to (m), which arise from long-term illness or disability of that applicant or a dependant of that applicant and which are in excess of the costs which would be incurred if that illness or disability did not exist, shall constitute special expenses for the purposes of paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 4B to the Order—
(a) personal care and attendance;
(b) personal communication needs;
(c) mobility;
(d) domestic help;
(e) medical aids where these cannot be provided as part of health services;
(f) heating;
(g) clothing;
(h) laundry requirements;
(i) payments for food essential to comply with a diet recommended by a medical practitioner;
(j) adaptations required to the applicant’s home;
(k) day care;
(l) rehabilitation; or
(m) respite care.
(2) Where the Department considers any costs referred to in paragraph (1) to be unreasonably high or to have been unreasonably incurred it may substitute such lower amount as it considers reasonable, including a nil amount.
(3) Where—
(a) an applicant or his dependant has, at the date an application is made, received, or at that date is in receipt of, financial assistance from any source in respect of his long-term illness or disability or that of his dependant; or
(b) that applicant or his dependant is adjudged eligible for either of the allowances referred to in paragraph (4),
only the net amount of the costs incurred in respect of the items listed in paragraph (1), after the deduction of the financial assistance referred to in sub-paragraph (a) and, where applicable, the allowance referred to in sub-paragraph (b) shall constitute special expenses for the purposes of paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 4B to the Order.
(4) Where the Department considers that a person who has made an application in respect of special expenses falling within paragraph (1) or his dependant may be entitled to disability living allowance under section 71 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 or attendance allowance under section 64 of that Act—
(a) if that applicant or his dependant has at the date of that application, or within a period of six weeks beginning with and including the giving or sending to him of notification of the possibility of entitlement to either of those allowances, applied for either of those allowances, the application made by that applicant shall not be determined until a decision has been made by the adjudicating authority on the eligibility for that allowance of that applicant or that dependant;
(b) if that applicant or his dependant has failed to apply for either of those allowances within the six week period specified in sub-paragraph (a), the Department shall determine the application for a departure direction made by that applicant on the basis that that applicant has income equivalent to the highest rate prescribed in respect of that allowance by or under those sections.
(5) For the purposes of this regulation, a dependant of an applicant shall be—
(a) where the applicant is an absent parent—
(i) the partner of that absent parent;
(ii) any child of whom that absent parent or his partner is a parent and who lives with them; or
(b) where the applicant is a parent with care—
(i) the partner of that parent with care;
(ii) any child of whom that parent with care or that parent’s partner is a parent and who lives with them, except any child in respect of whom the absent parent against whom the current assessment is made is the parent.
(6) For the purposes of this regulation—
(a) a person is disabled if he is blind, deaf or dumb or is substantially or permanently handicapped by illness, injury, mental disorder or congenital deformity;
(b) “long-term illness” means an illness from which the applicant or his dependant is suffering at the date of the application and which is likely to last for at least 52 weeks from and including that date or if likely to be shorter than 52 weeks, for the rest of the life of that applicant or his dependant;
(c) “health services” has the same meaning as in Article 2(2) of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1996/541/regulation/15 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-departure-direction-and-consequential-amendments-regulations-northern-ireland-1996/regulation-15
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.