OpenLegislation

The Social Security (Capital Limits and Earnings Disregards Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

S.R. 2000/366 · Made 20 November 2000 · Extends to Northern Ireland

Up to date with all changes known to legislation.gov.uk, revised to 20 November 2006.

HOUSING; RATES; SOCIAL SECURITY

Made 20th November 2000

Coming into operation in accordance with regulation 1(1)

The Department for Social Development, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 122(1)(a) and (d), 130(1), 132(2) and (4)(b) and (d), and 171(1), (3) and (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992f1 and Articles 14(4)(b) and (d), 15(1) and (3) and 36(2) of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995f2 and now vested in itf3, and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf, with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnelf4 in so far as regulations 2(3), 3 and 4 of, and paragraph 1 of the Schedule to, these Regulations, are concerned, and after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee that proposals in respect of those regulations and paragraph 1 of the Schedule, should not be referred to itf5, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

1992 c. 7

f2

S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15)

f3

See Article 8(b) of, and Part II of Schedule 6 to, the Departments (Transfer and Assignment of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999 (S.R. 1999 No. 481)

f4

See section 171(6A) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 as inserted by Article 3(3) of the Social Security (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 (S.I. 1993/1579 (N.I. 8)); consent function transferred from the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland to the Department of Finance and Personnel; see Article 6(b) of, and Part II of Schedule 4 to, the Departments (Transfer and Assignment of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999

f5

See section 150(1)(b) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992

Contents

  1. 1Citation, commencement and interpretation
  2. 2Capital Limits
  3. 3Sums to be disregarded in the calculation of earnings
  4. 4Saving
  5. Signature
  6. Schedule: Amendments to Provisions relating to Sums to Be Disregarded in the Calculation of Earnings
  7. 1Paragraph 1
  8. 2Paragraph 2
  9. 3Paragraph 3
  10. Explanatory note

1Citation, commencement and interpretationI1

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Capital Limits and Earnings Disregards Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 and shall come into operation—

(a)

for the purposes of this regulation on 1st April 2001;

(b)

for the purposes of regulation 2(3) and for the purposes of regulation 3 and 4 and paragraph 1 of the Schedule (in so far as those regulations and that paragraph relate to housing benefit)—

(i)

in a case where rent or rates are payable at intervals of a whole number of weeks, on 2nd April 2001, and

(ii)

in any other case, on 1st April 2001;

(c)

for all other purposes, on 9th April 2001.

(2)

Regulation 2(1) shall, in relation to any particular claimant for income support, have effect from the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that claimant on or after the 9th April 2001 and in this paragraph “benefit week”f1 and “claimant” shall have the same meanings as in regulation 2(1) of the Income Support Regulations.

(3)

Regulation 2(2) shall, in relation to any particular claimant for a jobseeker’s allowance, have effect from the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that claimant on or after 9th April 2001 and in this paragraph “benefit week”f2 shall have the same meaning as in regulation 1(2) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations.

(4)

F1In these Regulations—

  • “the Housing Benefit Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987f3;

  • “the Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987f4;

  • “the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996f5.

(5)

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954f6 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

2Capital LimitsI1I2I3

I4(1)

In the Income Support Regulations––

(a)

in regulation 41(1)f1 (capital treated as income), after “£8,000” there shall be inserted “or, in a case where regulation 45(aa)f2 (capital limit) applies, £12,000”;

(b)

in regulation 45f3 (capital limit)—

(i)

in paragraph (a) after “paragraph” there shall be inserted “(aa) or”;

(ii)

after paragraph (a) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(aa)

where the circumstances prescribed in regulation 53(1ZA)f4 (calculation of tariff income from capital) apply in the claimant’s case, the prescribed amount is £12,000;”;

(c)

in regulation 53 (calculation of tariff income from capital)—

(i)

in paragraph (1)f5, after “paragraph” there shall be inserted “(1ZA) or”;

(ii)

after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(1ZA)

Where the claimant—

(a)

is aged 60 or over or has a partner who is aged 60 or over;

(b)

is not a person to whom the circumstances prescribed in paragraph (1B) apply, and

(c)

has capital which, calculated in accordance with this Part, exceeds £6,000,

that capital shall be treated as equivalent to a weekly income of £1 for each complete £250 in excess of £6,000 but not exceeding £12,000.”;

(iii)

in both paragraph (2)f6 and (3)f7 after “(1)” there shall be inserted “, (1ZA)”.

(2)

In the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations—

(a)

in regulation 104(1)f8 (capital treated as income), after “£8,000” there shall be inserted “or, in a case where regulation 107(aa)f9 (capital limit) applies, £12,000”;

(b)

in regulation 107f10 (capital limit)—

(i)

in paragraph (a) after “paragraph” there shall be inserted “(aa) or”;

(ii)

after paragraph (a) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(aa)

where the circumstances prescribed in regulation 116(1ZA)f11 (calculation of tariff income from capital) apply in the claimant’s case, the prescribed amount is £12,000;”;

(c)

in regulation 116 (calculation of tariff income from capital)—

(i)

in paragraph (1)f12, after “paragraph” there shall be inserted “(1ZA) or”;

(ii)

after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(1ZA)

Where the claimant—

(a)

is aged 60 or over or has a partner who is aged 60 or over;

(b)

is not a person to whom the circumstances prescribed in paragraph (1B) apply, and

(c)

has capital which, calculated in accordance with this Part, exceeds £6,000,

that capital shall be treated as equivalent to a weekly income of £1 for each complete £250 in excess of £6,000 but not exceeding £12,000.”;

(iii)

in both paragraphs (2)f13 and (3)f14, after “(1)” there shall be inserted “, (1ZA)”.

(3)

F1In regulation 45 of the Housing Benefit Regulations (calculation of tariff income from capital)—

(a)

in paragraph (1)f15, after “paragraph” there shall be inserted “(1ZA) or”;

(b)

after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(1ZA)

Where the claimant—

(a)

is aged 60 or over or has a partner who is aged 60 or over;

(b)

is not a person to whom the circumstances prescribed in paragraph (1B) apply, and

(c)

has capital which, calculated in accordance with this Part, exceeds £6,000,

that capital shall be treated as equivalent to a weekly income of £1 for each complete £250 in excess of £6,000 but not exceeding £16,000.”;

(c)

in both paragraphs (2)f16 and (3)f17, after “(1)” there shall be inserted “, (1ZA)”.

3Sums to be disregarded in the calculation of earningsI1I2

In each of the provisions specified in the Schedule (which relate to sums to be disregarded in the calculations of earnings) but subject to regulation 4, for “£15”, wherever it appears, there shall be substituted “£20”.

4SavingI1I2

F1Paragraph 3(4)(c) of Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit Regulations, paragraph 4(4)(c) of Schedule 8 to the Income Support Regulations and paragraph 5(4)(c) of Schedule 5 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations shall have effect as if regulation 3 had not been made in a case where the claimant was entitled, by virtue of sub-paragraph (2) or (3) of those paragraphs as in operation immediately before the coming into operation of these Regulations, to a disregard of £15.

Signature

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 20th November 2000.

L.S.

John O'Neill

Senior Officer of the

Department for Social Development

The Department of Finance and Personnel hereby consents to regulations 2(3), 3 and 4 of, and paragraph 1 of the Schedule to, the foregoing Regulations.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Finance and Personnel on 23rd November 2000.

L.S.

Brian Delaney

Senior Officer of the

Department of Finance and Personnel

1

F1In Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit Regulations—

(a)

paragraph 3f1;

(b)

paragraph 4Af2;

(c)

paragraph 4Bf3;

(d)

paragraph 6f4;

(e)

paragraph 7;

(f)

paragraph 14f5.

2I1

In Schedule 8 to the Income Support Regulations—

(a)

paragraph 4f1;

(b)

paragraph 5f2;

(c)

paragraph 6Af3;

(d)

paragraph 6Bf4;

(e)

paragraph 7f5;

(f)

paragraph 8;

(g)

paragraph 15f6.

3I1

In the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations—

(a)

regulation 163(3) (calculation of earnings) in so far as it substitutes regulation 101(4)(a) and (5)(a) and (b) (calculation of net profit for self-employed earners);

(b)

in Schedule 5—

(i)

paragraph 5;

(ii)

paragraph 6f1;

(iii)

paragraph 7;

(iv)

paragraph 8;

(v)

paragraph 9;

(vi)

paragraph 10;

(vii)

paragraph 18;

(c)

in Schedule 5Af2—

(i)

paragraph 1;

(ii)

paragraph 2;

(iii)

paragraph 3;

(iv)

paragraph 4.

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations further amend the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

In particular, regulation 2(1) and (2) provides respectively that in income support and jobseeker’s allowance, claimants who are aged 60 or over or who have a partner aged 60 or over and to whom the limit of £16,000 does not apply, may be entitled to those benefits whilst having up to £12,000 of capital. It also provides in respect of those benefits, as does regulation 2(3) in respect of housing benefit that tariff income shall only be taken into account for such claimants in respect of any capital they have between £6,000 and the relevant upper capital limit.

Regulation 3 of, and the Schedule to, these Regulations increase to £20 from £15 from April 2001, the amount of earnings which may be disregarded in determining entitlement to those benefits.

Regulation 4 makes a saving provision.

In so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulations 2(3), 3 and 4 of, and paragraph 1 of the Schedule to, these Regulations, to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8), (“the 1992 Act”), after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee, they have not been so referred by virtue of section 150(1)(b) of that Act. Otherwise they 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 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the 1992 Act, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.

These Regulations do not impose any charge on business.