Explanatory note

These Regulations make amendments to the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (S.R. 2003 No. 28), the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.R. 2006 No. 405), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.R. 2006 No. 406), the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (S.R. 2008 No. 280), and the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 216).

Regulation 1 provides for citation, commencement and interpretation.

Regulations 2 to 6 amend provisions regarding which payments are to be disregarded as income and capital for the purposes of calculating entitlement to benefits in order to create new disregards. The disregards cover payments made by the scheme administered by the Church of England under the Abuse Redress Measure 2025 (2025 No. 4).

These Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8), are not subject to requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.