Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Regulation 2 amends regulation 97 of the Housing Benefit Regulations to permit offsetting of amounts deducted in the process of calculating a recoverable overpayment under regulation 104.
Regulation 3 revokes regulation 100 of the Housing Benefit Regulations. The power of the authority to recover overpayments is set out in section 75 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992.
Regulation 4 replaces regulation 102 with a new regulation. The substituted regulation sets a standard maximum rate of recovery of overpayments where a local authority chooses to recover from on-going entitlement to housing benefit being paid to a person as a claimant. A higher rate of deduction may be applied when deducting from housing benefit payable to a claimant who has been implicated in fraud in respect of that overpayment or where specified income or earnings disregards have been applied in calculating the housing benefit.
Regulation 5 replaces regulation 104 of the Housing Benefit Regulations with a new regulation which specifies more precisely the deductions to be made in calculating a recoverable overpayment.
Regulations 6 to 8 amend the Council Tax Benefit Regulations. Regulation 6 amends regulation 82 in a similar manner to the amendment made to regulation 97 of the Housing Benefit Regulations.
Regulation 7 replaces regulation 90 of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations to specify more precisely the deductions to be made in calculating recoverable excess benefit in a similar manner to regulation 104 of the Housing Benefit Regulations (as substituted by these Regulations).
Regulation 8 amends regulation 91 of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations to prevent the recovery of excess council tax benefit by deductions from housing benefit.
These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.