Explanatory note

These regulations replace with amendments the Social Security (Attendance Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (S.R. 1987 No. 413) and are consequential upon the changes made to attendance allowance by Article 4(1) of the Disability Living Allowance and Disability Working Allowance (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 which provides in particular that a person shall not be entitled to an attendance allowance unless he is aged 65 or over.

Regulation 2 sets out the conditions as to residence and presence in Northern Ireland which a person must satisfy to qualify for an attendance allowance.

Regulation 3 specifies when the qualifying period provided for in section 35(2)(b) of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975 may occur when entitlement to an attendance allowance has been interrupted and regulation 4 provides for entitlement to an attendance allowance for a period before the date of claim in renewal cases.

Regulation 5 relates specifically to persons undergoing renal dialysis and provides that in certain circumstances such persons shall be entitled to an attendance allowance.

Regulations 6, 7 and 8 impose restrictions on the payment of benefit where a person is accommodated in hospital or is in certain accommodation where the cost is or may be met out of public or local funds.

Regulation 9, with the Schedule, specifies provisions which are to be revoked.

The regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Security in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 10(2) of, and paragraph 21 of Schedule 3 to, the Social Security Act 1980 (c. 30), are not subject to the requirement of section 10(1) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.