{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/income-support-general-regulations-northern-ireland-1987/regulation-16",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/income-support-general-regulations-northern-ireland-1987/regulation-16.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1987/459",
  "legislation_title": "The Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/income-support-general-regulations-northern-ireland-1987",
  "path": "regulation/16",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "16",
  "heading": "Circumstances in which a person is to be treated as being or not being a member of the household",
  "text": "(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (5), the claimant and any partner and, where the claimant or his partner is treated as responsible under regulation 15 (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for another) for a child or young person, that child or young person and any child of that child or young person shall be treated as members of the same household where any of them is absent from the dwelling occupied as his home.\n(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in respect of any person referred to therein who is not treated as occupying a dwelling as his home because he fails to satisfy the conditions in paragraph 4(8) of Schedule 3 (housing costs).\n(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in respect of any member of a couple or of a polygamous marriage where—\n(a) one, both or all of them are patients detained in accommodation provided under Article 110 of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986;\n(b) one, both or all of them are detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or whilst serving a sentence imposed by a court;\n(c) one of them is in accommodation and, if the accommodation is accommodation provided under the provisions referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of residential accommodation in regulation 21(3) (special cases), the couple, or as the case may be, the members of the polygamous marriage are not entitled to income support and they have insufficient income to meet the minimum charge for that accommodation;\n(d) the claimant is abroad and does not satisfy the conditions of regulation 4 (temporary absence from Northern Ireland); or\n(e) one of them is permanently in residential accommodation, a home for persons in heed or a nursing home.\n(4) A child or young person shall not be treated as a member of the claimant's household where he is—\n(a) boarded out with the claimant or his partner under a relevant enactment;\n(b) boarded out with the claimant or his partner prior to adoption; or\n(c) placed for adoption with the claimant or his partner pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Societies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1969.\n(5) Subject to paragraph (6), paragraph (1) shall not apply to a child or young person who is not living with the claimant and who—\n(a) has been continuously absent from Northern Ireland for a period of more than 4 weeks commencing—\n(i) where he went abroad before the date of claim for income support, with that date,\n(ii) in any other case, with the date on which he went abroad;\n(b) has been an in-patient or in residential accommodation for a continuous period of more than 12 weeks commencing—\n(i) where he became an in-patient or, as the case may be, entered that accommodation before the date of the claim for income support, with that date, or\n(ii) in any other case, with the date on which he became an in-patient or entered that accommodation,\nand, in either case, has not been in regular contact with either the claimant or any member of the claimant's household;\n(c) is in the care of the Department under a relevant enactment;\n(d) has been boarded out with a person other than the claimant prior to adoption;\n(e) has been placed for adoption pursuant to a decision under the Adoption Societies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1969; or\n(f) is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court.\n(6) A child or young person to whom any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph (5)(c) or (f) applies shall be treated as being a member of the claimant's household only for that part of any benefit week where that child or young person lives with the claimant.\n(7) Where a child or young person for the purposes of attending the educational establishment at which he is receiving relevant education is living with the claimant or his partner and neither one is treated as responsible for that child or young person that child or young person shall be treated as being a member of the household of the person treated as responsible for him and shall not be treated as a member of the claimant's household.\n(8) In this regulation ''relevant enactment'' means the Guardianship of Infants Act 1886, the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955, the Naval Discipline Act 1957, the Adoption Act (Northern Ireland) 1967, the Children and Young Persons Act (Northern Ireland) 1968, the 1972 Order, the Family Law Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1977, the Matrimonial Causes (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and the Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "S.I. 1986/595 (N.I. 4)"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1969 No. 303"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f3",
      "text": "1886 c. 27"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f4",
      "text": "1955 c. 18"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f5",
      "text": "1955 c. 19"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f6",
      "text": "1957 c. 53"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f7",
      "text": "1967 c. 35 (N.l.)"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f8",
      "text": "1968 c. 34 (N.l.)"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f9",
      "text": "S.l. 1977/1250 (N.I. 17)"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f10",
      "text": "S.l. 1978/1045 (N.l. 15)"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f11",
      "text": "S.l. 1980/563 (N.I. 5)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "word omitted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2022/230",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Habitual Residence and Past Presence) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022"
    },
    {
      "type": "word added",
      "affecting": "nisr/2022/230",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Habitual Residence and Past Presence) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022"
    },
    {
      "type": "added",
      "affecting": "nisr/2022/230",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Habitual Residence and Past Presence) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted (temp.)",
      "affecting": "nisr/2020/63",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Coronavirus) (Prisoners) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020"
    },
    {
      "type": "substituted",
      "affecting": "nisr/1996/405",
      "affecting_title": "The Income-Related Benefits and Social Fund (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996"
    },
    {
      "type": "omitted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2003/367",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Back to Work Bonus and Lone Parent Run-on Amendment and Revocation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2005/458",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Residential Care Homes, Nursing Homes and Independent Hospitals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005"
    },
    {
      "type": "words omitted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2005/458",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Residential Care Homes, Nursing Homes and Independent Hospitals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005"
    },
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2005/458",
      "affecting_title": "The Social Security (Residential Care Homes, Nursing Homes and Independent Hospitals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1987/459/regulation/16",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:18:43.914608+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."
}