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The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 13 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019

S.R. 2019/4 · Made 14 January 2019 · Extends to Northern Ireland

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 8 June 2024.

Social Security

Made 14th January 2019

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 2(2), (3)(a) and (4) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 M1.

Those powers are exercisable by the Secretary of State by virtue of Article 4(1)(a) and (b) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.

Annotations to the whole text

Marginal citations

M1

S.I. 2015/2006 (N.I. 1).

Contents

  1. 1Citation
  2. 2Interpretation
  3. 3Appointed day
  4. 4Savings
  5. 5Amendment of the No. 8 Order: transitional provision preventing claims for housing benefit
  6. 6Transitional provision: termination of awards of housing benefit
  7. 7Transitional provision: application to housing benefit of the rules in universal credit for treatment of couples and polygamous marriages
  8. 8Transitional provision: where restrictions on claims for universal credit are in place Repealed
  9. Signature
  10. Explanatory note

1Citation

This Order may be cited as the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 13 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019.

2Interpretation

(1)

In this Order—

  • F1“the 1992 Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

  • “the 2002 Act” means the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 M1;

  • “the appointed day” means the day referred to in Article 3;

  • F2“assessment period”, in relation to universal credit entitlement, has the same meaning as in regulation 22 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016;

  • F3...

  • “the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 M2;

  • “the No. 8 Order” means the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions) Order 2017 M3;

  • “polygamous marriage” has the same meaning as in regulation 3(4) of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 M4;

  • “the qualifying age for state pension credit” has the same meaning as in the 2002 Act M5;

  • “secondary legislation” means an instrument made under—

    1. (a)

      an Act of Parliament, including an Order in Council made under the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Act 2015 M6;

    2. (b)

      Northern Ireland legislation within the meaning of section 24 of the Interpretation Act 1978 M7;

  • “state pension credit” has the same meaning as in the 2002 Act M8.

F4(1A)

In this Order, “couple” has the meanings given by the 2002 Act, save—

(a)

in reference to entitlement to housing benefit, where it has the meanings given by Part VII of the 1992 Act; and

(F5b)

in Article 7(3), in relation to references to persons being treated as a couple in accordance with Article 7(2)(a)(ii), where it has the meaning referred to in Article 7(2)(a)(ii)

(2)

In this Order—

(a)

“mixed-age couple” means a couple, one member of which has attained the qualifying age for state pension credit and the other of which has not; and

(b)

the definition in sub-paragraph (a) includes a polygamous marriage where at least one party to the marriage has attained the qualifying age for state pension credit and at least one has not.

(3)

Save as stated to the contrary in Article 6(2) F6..., all references in this Order to claims or entitlement to housing benefit are to claims or entitlement under the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations.

(4)

In this Order—

(a)

a person is entitled to state pension credit or housing benefit on any day where the person has made a claim for that benefit and the conditions of entitlement are met in relation to that person, regardless of whether, respectively, entitlement begins on a later day under—

(i)

regulation 16A (date of entitlement under an award of state pension credit for the purpose of payability and effective date of change of rate) M9 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, or

(ii)

regulation 55 (date on which entitlement is to commence) of the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations, and

(b)

F7save in Article 7(3)(a), a reference to claiming or entitlement to state pension credit or housing benefit as part of a F8mixed-age couple is a reference to F9 a person claiming or being so entitled, on the basis that F10the person is a member of a couple or F11... a polygamous marriage.

3Appointed day

15th May 2019 is the appointed day for the coming into force of paragraph 53 (universal credit amendments: insertion of section 4(1A) into the 2002 Act) of Schedule 2 to the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015, and Article 37 of that Order in so far as it relates to that paragraph.

4Savings

(1)

Subject to paragraph (2), the 2002 Act shall have effect as though section 4(1A) (exclusion of mixed-age couples from state pension credit) M1 had not come into force in relation to a member of a mixed-age couple who, on the day before the appointed day and as part of that couple, is entitled to—

(a)

state pension credit;

(b)

housing benefit; or

(c)

state pension credit and housing benefit.

(2)

The savings in the sub-paragraphs of paragraph (1) shall cease to have effect in relation to the member of the mixed-age couple referred to on any day after the appointed day when that person is not entitled to either state pension credit or housing benefit as part of the same mixed-age couple.

F1(3)

Nothing in regulation 4A (restriction on claims for housing benefit, income support or a tax credit) of the Transitional Regulations prevents a claim for housing benefit by a member of a mixed-age couple referred to in paragraph (1) where—

(a)

they have been issued with a migration notice;

(b)

they make the claim for housing benefit within 3 months beginning with—

(i)

in the case of a person who became entitled to universal credit by claiming before the final deadline, the day after their award of universal credit terminates; or

(ii)

in the case of a person who did not claim universal credit, or claimed before the final deadline but was not entitled, the day after their award of housing benefit terminates; and

(c)

they meet the conditions for entitlement to housing benefit on that day.

(4)

Where a person mentioned in sub-paragraph (b)(i) of paragraph (3) claims—

(a)

housing benefit; or

(b)

state pension credit (whether or not they also claim housing benefit),

within 3 months beginning with the day mentioned in that sub-paragraph, any days on which they were entitled to universal credit are to be disregarded for the purposes of paragraph (2).

(5)

In this Article “Transitional Regulations” means the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 and “final deadline” and “migration notice” have the same meaning in those Regulations.

5Amendment of the No. 8 Order: transitional provision preventing claims for housing benefit

(1)

The following amendments of Article 24 of the No. 8 Order M1 have effect from the day after the day of making of this Order.

(2)

For paragraph (4)(a) substitute—

“(a)

in the case of a claim for housing benefit, the claim is made by a member of a State Pension Credit Act couple who has reached the qualifying age for state pension credit, where the other member has not reached that age, and entitlement begins, or in the case of claims made in advance of entitlement is to begin—

(i)

before 15th May 2019, or

(ii)

on or after 15th May 2019 and one of the savings in the sub-paragraphs of Article 4(1) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 13 and Savings and Transitional Provisions and Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2019 applies to that person and the saving has not ceased to have effect under Article 4(2) of that Order, and

entitlement to housing benefit is to be construed in accordance with Article 2 of that Order;”.

(3)

In paragraph (3), at the end insert “ or temporary accommodation ”.

(4)

In paragraph (11), after the definition of “Tax Credits Act couple” insert—

““temporary accommodation” means accommodation which falls within Case 1 or Case 2 under paragraph 4A of Schedule 1 to the Universal Credit Regulations;”.

6Transitional provision: termination of awards of housing benefit

(1)

The awards of housing benefit referred to in paragraph (2) are to terminate on the day referred to in paragraph (3), subject to paragraph (4).

(2)

The awards are those where entitlement under the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations as part of a mixed-age couple begins on or after the appointed day and where the awards are made—

(a)

at any time, under the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 M1 or the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations, to a person who, after the award, becomes a member of a mixed-age couple;

(b)

at any time, under the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, to a person who is a member of a mixed-age couple, where the award subsequently ceases to be subject to those Regulations and becomes subject to the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations; or

(c)

on or before the day of making of this Order, to a person who claimed in advance of attaining the qualifying age for state pension credit.

(3)

The termination takes effect—

(a)

in the case of an award referred to in paragraph (2)(a) or (b), on the later of the appointed day and the day entitlement under the Housing Benefit SPC Regulations as part of a mixed-age couple takes effect on the award, as a change of circumstances, in accordance with the Housing Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 M2; or

(b)

in the case of an award referred to in paragraph (2)(c), on the day after the day of making of this Order.

(4)

Paragraph (1) does not apply to awards in respect of specified accommodation or temporary accommodation, as defined in F1regulation 2 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 M3.

7Transitional provision: application to housing benefit of the rules in universal credit for treatment of couples and polygamous marriagesF3F4F1

(1)

Paragraph (3) applies where a person (“P”), who has attained the qualifying age, would otherwise not be entitled to either housing benefit or universal credit, because—

(a)

but for that paragraph, P would be a member of the same household as a partner who has not attained the qualifying age and therefore a member of a mixed-age couple, who—

(i)

is prevented from claiming housing benefit under F2regulation 4A of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 ; or

(ii)

has an award of housing benefit terminated under Article 6; and

(b)

P is neither entitled to universal credit jointly with that partner, nor entitled to universal credit as a single person, in one of the cases set out in paragraph (2).

(2)

The cases are where P is not entitled to universal credit because P has attained the qualifying age and—

(a)

any of the following paragraphs of regulation 3 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 applies, and in the case of paragraph (ii) below, one of the following circumstances applies—

(i)

paragraph (2) (treatment of certain couples – universal credit may only be claimed as a single person);

(ii)

paragraph (3) (treatment of polygamous marriages), so that P is not entitled to universal credit because P may only claim universal credit either as one of two parties to a polygamous marriage to be treated as a couple and the other party has also attained the qualifying age, or as a remaining party to such a marriage to be treated as single;

(iii)

paragraph (5) (absence from the household – universal credit may only be claimed as a single person); or

(b)

P lost joint entitlement to universal credit as part of a mixed-age couple due to one of the following changes of circumstances taking effect from a date (namely the first day of the universal credit assessment period in which the change occurred) that is earlier than when, but for paragraph (3), the same change would take effect for the purposes of housing benefit, those changes being where—

(i)

P and their partner are no longer a couple;

(ii)

P is party to a marriage that is no longer a polygamous marriage and P’s remaining spouse has attained the qualifying age.

(3)

Where this paragraph applies—

(a)

P and their partner who are to be treated as a non-polygamous couple in accordance with paragraph (2)(a)(ii), or who are no longer parties to a polygamous marriage in accordance with paragraph (2)(b)(ii), are to be treated as members of the same household as each other but not of that of any party (or parties) with whom they are not part of a couple in accordance with those provisions and one of them may claim or remain entitled to housing benefit as part of that couple; or

(b)

P who is to be treated as single in accordance with paragraph (2)(a)(i) to (iii), or is single in accordance with paragraph (2)(b)(i), is to be treated as though P is not a member of the same household as any party (or parties) with whom P is not part of a couple in accordance with those provisions and may claim or remain entitled to housing benefit as a single person,

where paragraph (2)(a) applies, with effect from the date on which the relevant paragraph of regulation 3 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 first applies to C, or, where paragraph (2)(b) applies, with effect from the date referred to in paragraph (2)(b) on which C lost universal credit entitlement.

8Transitional provision: where restrictions on claims for universal credit are in placeF1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Signature

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

Guy Opperman

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Work and Pensions

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order brings into force paragraph 53 of Schedule 2 to the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/2006 (N.I. 1)), which amends the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 (c.14 (N.I.)) by inserting section 4(1A), which excludes mixed-age couples from entitlement to state pension credit. (For the definition of “mixed-age couple” see Article 2(2)(a).) Section 4(1A) comes into force on 15th May 2019 (“the appointed day”, see Article 3), except in the savings cases in Article 4.

Under Article 4(1), if a member of a mixed-age couple has entitlement to state pension credit or housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age on the day before the appointed day, entitlement as part of that couple may continue after the appointed day. For the definition of entitlement, and entitlement as part of a couple, see Article 2(4).

Under Article 4(2), the savings continue to apply until such time as there is neither entitlement as part of the couple to state pension credit, nor housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age. Provided that there is continuity of entitlement to either benefit, the savings continue. So entitlement to state pension credit, provided as part of the same couple, may arise (or arise again) after the appointed day, so long as there is entitlement on the part of the couple to housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age and there was such entitlement, or entitlement to state pension credit, on the day before the appointed day. Mixed-age couples who do not, or no longer, fall within the savings cases and require income-related benefit may claim universal credit instead.

Articles 5 and 6 make complementary provision to section 4(1A) and the savings in Article 4 in respect of claims to, and awards of, housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age.

Article 5 amends Article 24 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (Commencement No. 8 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions) Order 2017 (S.R. 2017 No. 190 (C. 11)) to prevent claims to housing benefit by a member of a mixed-age couple of state pension credit qualifying age. Claims are prevented in the same cases as that member is excluded from entitlement to state pension credit, allowing for the savings cases in Article 4(1) whilst they continue under Article 4(2). Further amendment is made to allow claims for housing benefit in respect of temporary accommodation.

Article 6 provides for termination of awards of housing benefit made to a person who has become a member of a mixed-age couple, awards made to a mixed-age couple where the award becomes subject to the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.R. 2006 No. 406), and advance awards made to a member of a mixed-age couple before the making of this Order. Awards must terminate where entitlement to housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age, as part of a mixed-age couple, would otherwise have begun on or after the appointed day.

Where a party to a polygamous marriage is excluded from state pension credit under section 4(1A) – for the extension of the definition in this Order of “mixed-age couple” to certain polygamous marriages, see Article 2(2)(b) – and may not become or remain entitled to housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age, further to Article 5 or 6 respectively, Article 7(2) provides that the parties to the marriage are to be treated as a couple or as a single person (or persons) as under the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 216). Where each of the parties treated as a couple, or a party treated as single, has attained the qualifying age for state pension credit, Article 7(3) provides that they be treated in that capacity for claims to or awards of state pension credit and housing benefit for those of state pension credit qualifying age.