{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-benefit-and-universal-credit-size-criteria-miscellaneous-amendments-regulations-2013/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-benefit-and-universal-credit-size-criteria-miscellaneous-amendments-regulations-2013/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2013/2828",
  "legislation_title": "The Housing Benefit and Universal Credit (Size Criteria) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-benefit-and-universal-credit-size-criteria-miscellaneous-amendments-regulations-2013",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations amend the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (“the Housing Benefit Regulations”), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 and the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (“the Universal Credit Regulations”).\nRegulation 2(2) inserts a definition of “child who cannot share a bedroom” into regulation 2(1) of the Housing Benefit Regulations. This applies to a child who:\nis entitled to the care component of disability living allowance at the highest or middle rate, and\nby reason of their disability is not reasonably able to share a bedroom with another child\nIt also amends the definition of “young individual” so that a person who is a qualifying parent or carer (also defined in regulation 2 of the Housing Benefit Regulations) is not a young individual and so will not be subject to the shared accommodation rate when calculating the amount of rent eligible to be met by housing benefit for claimants in the private sector.\nRegulation 2(3) amends regulation B13 of the Housing Benefit Regulations, which makes provision for the determination of the amount of rent eligible to be met by way of housing benefit for claimants renting in the social sector. The amendments do two things. The amendment in regulation 2(3)(a) ensures that where one of the occupiers of the dwelling is a child who cannot share a bedroom, a bedroom is allowed under the size criteria applicable in the claimant’s case.\nThe amendments in regulation 2(3)(b) to (d) ensure that when determining whether a dwelling is under-occupied for the purposes of applying a reduction, a room is included where a joint tenant (or a joint tenant’s partner) requires overnight care or is a qualifying parent or carer.\nRegulation 2(4) makes a similar amendment in respect of a child who cannot share a bedroom to regulation 13D of the Housing Benefit Regulations, which makes provision for the determination of the amount of rent eligible to be met by way of housing benefit for claimants renting in the private sector to whom the local housing allowance applies. However under regulation 13D there is a maximum of four bedrooms and the room must be one that is additional to those that the claimant would be entitled to if the child were able to share a bedroom.\nRegulation 2(5) amends regulation 14 of the Housing Benefit Regulations, which applies to private sector claimants not covered by the local housing allowance and to some social sector claimants where the local authority considers the rent to be unreasonably high. Taken in conjunction with the amendment to Schedule 2 made by regulation 2(6), this amendment ensures that a referral to a rent officer will be made if a child becomes, or ceases to be, a child who cannot share a bedroom.\nRegulation 3 makes equivalent amendments to regulations 2, 13D and 14 of and Schedule 2 to the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 in respect of a child who cannot share a bedroom. (These Regulations have no equivalent to regulation B13 of the Housing Benefit Regulations and they do not apply to young individuals).\nRegulation 4(2) amends paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 to the Universal Credit Regulations, which specifies who should be treated as part of a renter’s extended benefit unit for the purposes of the housing costs calculation. The purpose of the amendments is to ensure that only children for whom the renter is responsible (within the meaning of regulation 4 of the Universal Credit Regulations) are treated as part of the extended benefit unit and allocated a room under the size criteria. They also make clear that only non-dependants who normally live with the renter can be allocated a room under the size criteria.\nRegulation 4(3) substitutes a revised version of paragraph 12 of Schedule 4 to the Universal Credit Regulations. The revised wording allows for an additional room to be allocated for a child who is a member of the renter’s extended benefit unit and would usually have to share a room, if:\nthey are entitled to the care component of disability living allowance at the highest or middle rate, and\nby reason of their disability, they are not reasonably able to share a bedroom with another child.\nThe Report of the Social Security Advisory Committee dated 29th October 2013 on the Secretary of State’s proposal to make these Regulations, [together with a statement showing the extent to which these Regulations give effect to the recommendations of the Committee and, in so far as they do not give effect to them, the reasons why not,] are contained in an Act Paper published by The Stationery Office Ltd.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2828/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T00:35:36.414068+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}