Regulation 3 Interpretation of Part 2

In this Part—

• “child” means a person under the age of 16;

• “couple” means—

  1. (a)

     subject to paragraph (e), a man and woman who are married to each other and are members of the same household;

  2. (b)

     a man and woman who are not married to each other but are living together as husband and wife;

  3. (c)

     two people of the same sex who are civil partners of each other and are members of the same household;

  4. (d)

     two people of the same sex who are not civil partners of each other but are living together as if they were civil partners; or

  5. (e)

     in a case where a person is a member of a polygamous marriage, that person and the member of the polygamous marriage to whom that person was first married,

  and for the purposes of paragraph (d), two people of the same sex are regarded as living together as if they were civil partners if, but only if, they would be regarded as living together as husband and wife were they instead two people of the opposite sex;

• “housing association” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1992^f1;

• “housing benefit” means housing benefit under section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act^f2;

• “Housing Benefit Regulations” means the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006^f3;

• “landlord” has the same meaning as in regulation 92 of the Housing Benefit Regulations^f4;

• “welfare benefit” has the same meaning as in regulation 73G of the Housing Benefit Regulations^f5;

• “young person” has the same meaning as in regulation 17(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations.

For the purposes of regulation 4(3)(b), the circumstances in which a person is treated as responsible for a child or young person are the same as those set out in regulation 18 of the Housing Benefit Regulations.