Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 (“the Disability Living Allowance Regulations”), the Personal Independence Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the Personal Independence Payment Regulations”) and the Personal Independence Payment (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the Personal Independence Payment Transitional Regulations”) following the Supreme Court’s judgment in Mathieson v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] UKSC 47 (8^th July 2015).

Regulations 8 and 12A of the Disability Living Allowance Regulations provide that for a person to receive payment of disability living allowance, that person is not maintained free of charge while undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in a Health Service or Defence Council hospital or other similar institution. There is an equivalent provision in regulation 29 of the Personal Independence Payment Regulations.

The provisions in the Disability Living Allowance Regulations, which were the subject of the Supreme Court’s judgment, are amended by regulation 2(2) and (4) of these Regulations. The equivalent provision in the Personal Independence Payment Regulations is amended by regulation 3 of these Regulations. The effect is that these provisions will no longer apply to any person who was under the age of 18 on the day on which that person’s current period as an in-patient in a hospital or similar institution began.

Regulation 2(3) and (5) makes consequential amendments to regulations 10 and 12B of the Disability Living Allowance Regulations, in particular to remove the current exemptions for persons under the age of 16. The current exemptions are more limited than those provided by these Regulations, as they apply only for the first 84 days in hospital, and do not apply if the person was in hospital on the first day of entitlement. No equivalent consequential amendments are required to the Personal Independence Payment Regulations because they do not apply to persons under the age of 16.

Regulation 4 of these Regulations amends the Personal Independence Payment Transitional Regulations. Paragraph (2) inserts a new definition of “exempt person”, covering a person who benefits from these Regulations. Paragraph (3) ensures that an exempt person must not be invited to apply for personal independence payment until they cease to be an exempt person. Paragraph (4) ensures that the person’s award of a disability living allowance may, instead, be extended if the award of either component is for a fixed term.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this Rule as no impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.