Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Welfare Supplementary Payments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“The Welfare Supplementary Payment Regulations”) which were introduced to mitigate impacts from the implementation of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2015 as defined in the document “A Fresh Start the Stormont Agreement and the Implementation Plan”.

The Regulations provide for making mitigation payments on the reduction of the benefit cap (as provided for in Article 5 of the Welfare Reform and Work (Northern Ireland) Order 2016).

Regulation 2 amends Regulation 4 of the Welfare Supplementary Payment Regulations to remove the daily total entitlement condition. It modifies the definition of the relevant date for the purposes of determining eligibility to a welfare supplementary payment. It further inserts regulation 4A to provide for the calculation of the welfare supplementary payment from the date the new benefit cap is applied. Where there is a change in circumstances after the new benefit cap is applied and the housing benefit deduction decreases, the welfare supplementary payment will be revised to that lesser amount.

The Regulation also amends the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 to ensure that Discretionary Housing Payments do not overlap with welfare supplementary payments.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 13 of the Welfare Supplementary Payment Regulations to make a minor amendment in relation to the definition of residency in Northern Ireland.