# The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2010, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend a number of different regulations relating to social security.
Regulation 2 amends the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967) (“the Income Support Regulations”) to:
provide that where the claimant has a partner aged under 18 who is sick, and the partner claims employment and support allowance rather than income support for their period of sickness, the couple will be eligible for the higher rate, and
give access to income support for certain young people who have ceased to live in accommodation provided by local authorities in Scotland, to mirror provisions already in place in relation to local authorities in England and Wales.
Regulations 2 and 4 amend the Income Support Regulations and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207) (“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations”) to introduce a definition of volunteer.
Regulations 2, 4, 6 to 12 amend the Income Support Regulations, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations, the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1792) (“the State Pension Credit Regulations”), the Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/ 3061), the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/213) (“the Housing Benefit Regulations”), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/214) (“the Housing Benefit (SPC) Regulations”), the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/215) (“the Council Tax Benefit Regulations”), the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/216) (“the Council Tax Benefit (SPC) Regulations”) and the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/794) (“the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations”) to:
introduce disregards in respect of payments by “MFET Limited”. MFET Limited is a company limited by guarantee (number 7121661), established and funded by the Secretary of State, for the benefit of persons who have acquired HIV as a result of treatment by the NHS with blood or blood products, and
insert “or by” to sentences where references to payments “under” various trusts are made, to provide for the fact that MFET Limited is a company rather than a trust.
Regulations 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12 amend the Income Support Regulations, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations, the Housing Benefit Regulations, the Council Benefit Tax Regulations and the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations to introduce a disregard in relation to income and/or capital for direct payments for health care made under the National Health Service Act 2006.
Regulations 2 to 4 and 6, 8 to 12 amend the Income Support Regulations, the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1968), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations, the State Pension Credit Regulations, the Housing Benefit Regulations, the Housing Benefit (SPC) Regulations, the Council Tax Benefit Regulations, the Council Tax Benefit (SPC) Regulations, the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations to change references from “60” (years of age) to the “qualifying age” or “qualifying age for state pension credit”, as appropriate, when considering notional income or notional capital, and in relation to the supply of information on income and capital.
Regulation 4 amends the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations to:
amend the definition of “full-time student” to include students attending, as well as undertaking, a course,
amend the period in which a member of a joint-claim couple will be entitled to jobseeker’s allowance without having to make a joint-claim because she has recently given birth, to be up to 28 weeks after the birth of the child,
remove references to paragraphs removed from the Income Support Regulations, concerning persons eligible to claim income support rather than jobseeker’s allowance,
insert an interpretation for “last day of the course” for students, and
correct a small drafting error in provisions relating to hardship cases for joint-couple claims.
Regulations 5 and 13 amend the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/2205) and the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) (Lump Sum Payments) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1596) to exempt payments made by MFET Limited from the compensation recovery schemes established under the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 (c. 27).
Regulation 6 amends the State Pension Credit Regulations to provide for foreign state retirement pensions to be treated in the same way as foreign social security benefits.
Regulations 8 and 10 amend the Housing Benefit Regulations and the Council Tax Benefit Regulations to:
remove otiose references to “higher pensioner” premiums,
extend the coverage of the second chance learning provision to also include young people under 21, where they were enrolled or accepted onto a course before reaching the age of 19. Second chance learning provision here means educational courses that do not lead to a Higher National Certificate or higher qualification, or equivalent qualifications, and
bring the treatment of employment and support allowance payments to those claimants who are receiving assistance under the self-employment route, as defined in those Regulations, and training allowance payments as a substitute for employment and support allowance payments, in line with the treatment of other social security benefits.
A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the private and voluntary sectors.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/641/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-miscellaneous-amendments-no-2-regulations-2010/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.