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The Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2002

S.I. 2002/3116 · Made 16 December 2002

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise statutory instruments, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Made 16th December 2002

Laid before Parliament 23rd December 2002

Coming into force 13th January 2003

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with the consent of the Treasuryf1, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 140B(1), (3) and (4), 140F(2) and 189(1) and (4) to (7) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992f2, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, after consultation with organisations appearing to him to be representative of the authorities concernedf3, hereby makes the following Order:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

See section 189(8) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5); amended by paragraph 3(5) of Schedule 13 to the Housing Act 1996 (c. 52), paragraph 10 of Schedule 3 to the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 (c. 27) and paragraph 57(3) of Schedule 3 to the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 (c. 2).

f2

1992 c. 5. Sections 140B and 140F were inserted by paragraph 4 of Schedule 12 to the Housing Act 1996, section 140B(1) was amended by paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 (c. 47), section 140B(4) was substituted by section 10 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997, section 189(1) and (4) to (6) was amended by paragraph 109 of Schedule 7 to the Social Security Act 1998 (c. 14), section 189(1) was amended by paragraph 57(2) of Schedule 3 to the Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 and section 189(7) was amended by paragraph 24 of Schedule 9 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) and paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 to the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997.

f3

See section 176(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992; amended by paragraph 3(4) of Schedule 13 to the Housing Act 1996.

Contents

  1. 1Citation, commencement and interpretation
  2. 2Definition of “new incentive scheme”
  3. 3Amendment of article 14 of the principal Order
  4. 4Amendment of article 18 of the principal Order
  5. Signature
  6. Explanatory note

1Citation, commencement and interpretation

(1)

This Order may be cited as the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2002 and shall come into force on 13th January 2003.

(2)

The amendments made by this Order shall have effect from 1st April 2001.

(3)

In this Order, “the principal Order” means the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998f1.

2Definition of “new incentive scheme”

(1)

In article 1(2) of the principal Order (citation, commencement and interpretation), after the definition of “the English Regulations” there shall be inserted—

  • ““new incentive scheme” means the scheme set out in the following circulars issued by the Secretary of Statef1—

    • HB/CTB F12/2000; and

    HB/CTB F19/2001;”.

(2)

In paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 5 to the principal Order (benefit savings threshold)f2, the definition of “new incentive scheme” shall be omitted.

3Amendment of article 14 of the principal Order

In article 14(2) of the principal Order (backdated benefit)f1, for “18(1)(b)(iii)” there shall be substituted “18(1)(b)(iia) or (iii)”.

4Amendment of article 18 of the principal Order

(1)

Article 18 of the principal Order (additions to subsidy)f1 shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this article.

(2)

In paragraph (1)—

(a)

before sub-paragraph (b)(iii) there shall be inserted—

“(iia)

in the case of a claimant error overpayment, or of a fraudulent overpayment made by an authority which is operating the new incentive scheme, 40 per cent. of the overpayment;”;

(b)

in sub-paragraph (b)(iii), after “fraudulent overpayment” there shall be inserted “to which head (iia) does not apply”;

(c)

in sub-paragraph (b)(iv), after “overpayment” there shall be inserted “or, where the overpayment is made by an authority operating the new incentive scheme, 40 per cent. of the overpayment”;

(d)

in sub-paragraph (c), after “80 per cent.” there shall be inserted “or, in a case where the discovery is made by an authority which is operating the new incentive scheme, 40 per cent.”.

(3)

Before paragraph (5) there shall be inserted—

“(4A)

In paragraph (1)(b)(iia), “claimant error overpayment” means an overpayment made by an authority which is operating the new incentive scheme, where the overpayment—

(a)

is caused by—

(i)

the claimant, or

(ii)

a person acting on the claimant’s behalf under regulation 71 of the Housing Benefit Regulations (who may claim housing benefit)f2 or regulation 61 of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations (who may claim council tax benefit)f3,

failing to provide information in accordance with regulation 72(1), 73 or 75 of, or paragraph 5 of Schedule A1 to, the Housing Benefit Regulations (duties on claimant to provide information)f4 or regulation 62(1), 63 or 65 of, or paragraph 5 of Schedule A1 to, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations (duties on claimant to provide information)f5; and

(b)

is not a fraudulent overpayment.”.

(4)

In paragraph (5), for “paragraphs (1)(b)(iii) and (c)” there shall be substituted “paragraphs (1)(b)(iia) and (iii) and (c) and (4A)”.

Signature

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Malcolm Wicks

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

Department for Work and Pensions

12th December 2002

We consent,

Nick Ainger

Philip Woolas

Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury

16th December 2002

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998 (S.I. 1998/562) (“the principal Order”) which provides for subsidy to be payable to authorities administering housing benefit and council tax benefit. The amendments make further provision for subsidy payments in relation to a scheme (“the new incentive scheme”) which introduces new terms, including incentives and rewards, relating to local authorities' anti-fraud activities. Section 140F(2) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5) authorises the varying of an Order before, during or after the year to which it relates. The amendments made by this Order have effect from 1st April 2001.

Article 2 inserts a definition of “new incentive scheme” for the general purposes of the principal Order and removes the existing definition which has more limited effect.

Article 3 amends article 14 of the principal Order consequent on the amendments made by article 4 of this Order.

Article 4 amends article 18 of the principal Order by inserting a definition of “claimant error overpayment” and changing some of the rates at which additions are made to subsidy payable to authorities operating the new incentive scheme.

This Order does not impose a charge on business.