# The Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, Regulation 20: Persons in board and lodging accommodation and hostels


(1) Subject to regulation 22 (reductions in applicable amounts) where—
(a) the claimant lives in board and lodging accommodation or a hostel; or
(b) if he is a member of a family—
(i) he and the members of his family live in such accommodation, or
(ii) he and the members of his family normally live in such accommodation and, where there is a period of absence from the accommodation of any member of the family, provided that the claimant or his partner lives in the accommodation during that absence,
his weekly applicable amount shall, except in a case to which regulation 21 (special cases) or Part II of Schedule 5 (persons to whom regulation 20 does not apply) applies, be calculated in accordance with Part I of that Schedule.
(2) In this regulation and Schedule 5—
“board and lodging accommodation” means—
(a) accommodation provided to the claimant or, if he is a member of a family, to him or any other members of his family, for a charge which is inclusive of the provision of that accommodation and at least some cooked or prepared meals which are both prepared and consumed in that accommodation or associated premises; or
(b) accommodation provided in a hotel, guest-house, lodging-house or some similar establishment;
“board and lodging area” means anyone of the 14 areas in which the accommodation provided for the claimant is situated as specified in column (1) of Schedule 6 (board and lodging areas) comprising the social security office areas specified in column (2) thereof and described in the publication entitled “Supplementary Benefit Board and Lodging Areas in Northern Ireland” published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in 1986 and any place which is not included in the description of a board and lodging area in the said publication shall be treated for the purposes of this regulation and Schedule 5 as forming part of the-board and lodging area nearest to it;
''hostel'' means an establishment not being a home for persons in need or a nursing home—
(a) in which there is provided for persons generally or for a class of persons, residential accommodation, otherwise than in separate and self-contained premises, and either board or facilities for the preparation of food adequate to the needs of those persons, or both; and
(b) which is—
(i) managed by a housing association registered with the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland in accordance with Article 124 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981,
(ii) operated other than on a commercial basis and in respect of which funds are provided wholly or in part by the Department, any other government department or agency,
(iii) managed by a voluntary body or charity and provides care, support or supervision with a view to assisting those persons to be rehabilitated or resettled within the community, or
(iv) for the purposes of any particular case, such other establishment of like nature as the Department may, in its discretion, determine.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1987/459/regulation/20 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/income-support-general-regulations-northern-ireland-1987/regulation-20
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.