# The Emergency Fuel Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, Paragraph 1: Citation and interpretation

Extent: N.I.

(1) This Scheme may be cited as the Emergency Fuel Payment Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2025.
(2) In this Scheme:—
“couple” means—
(a) two people who are married to, or civil partners of, each other and are members of the same household; or
(b) two people who are not married to, or civil partners of, each other but are living together as if they were a married couple or civil partners;
“Emergency Fuel Payment” means a payment made under Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to this Scheme;
“free in-patient treatment” is to be construed in accordance with regulation 2(4) and (5) of the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005;
“independent hospital” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 2 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;
“nursing home” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 11 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;
“pensionable age” has the meaning given by the rules in paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;
“polygamous marriage” means any marriage which took place under the laws of a country which permits polygamy where—
(a) any member of the marriage is for the time being married to more than one person; and
(b) all the members of the marriage are members of the same household;
“qualifying week” means in respect of the week from 16th to 22nd September 2024;
“residential care” means, disregarding any period of temporary absence, a person residing in—
(a) a nursing home;
(b) an independent hospital; or
(c) accommodation provided under section 3(1) of the Polish Resettlement Act 1947;
“Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment” means a payment made under regulation 2 of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024;
“social security information” means information held by or on behalf of the Department and obtained as a result of, or for the purpose of, the exercise of the Department’s functions in relation to social security;
“withdrawal agreement”, “EEA EFTA separation agreement” and “Swiss citizens’ rights agreement” have the same meanings as in section 39(1) of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2025/23/schedule/1/paragraph/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/emergency-fuel-payment-regulations-northern-ireland-2025/schedule-1/paragraph-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.