# The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005, Regulation 2: Amendment of the Income Support Regulations

Extent: N.I.

(1) The Income Support Regulations shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (9).
(2) In regulation 41(1) (capital treated as income) the words “£8,000 or, in a case where regulation 45(aa) (capital limit) applies, £12,000 or, in a case where regulation 45(b) applies,” shall be omitted.
(3) In regulation 42 (notional income)—
(a) in paragraph (2)(g) after “personal pension scheme” there shall be inserted “, occupational pension scheme”;
(b) for paragraph (2A) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—
“(2ZA) A claimant who has attained the age of 60 shall be treated as possessing—
(a) the amount of any income from an occupational pension scheme, personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract—
(i) for which no claim has been made, and
(ii) to which he might expect to be entitled if a claim for it were made;
(b) income from an occupational pension scheme which the claimant elected to defer,
but only from the date on which it could be expected to be acquired were an application for it to be made.
(2A) Where a person, aged not less than 60, is a person entitled to money purchase benefits under an occupational pension scheme or a personal pension scheme, or is a party to, or a person deriving entitlement to a pension under, a retirement annuity contract, and—
(a) in the case of an occupational pension scheme or personal pension scheme, he fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available in that scheme where—
(i) he defers, in whole or in part, the payment of any income which would have been payable to him by his pension fund holder;
(ii) he fails to take any necessary action to secure that the whole of any income which would be payable to him by his pension fund holder upon his applying for it, is so paid, or
(iii) income withdrawal is not available to him under that scheme; or
(b) in the case of a retirement annuity contract, he fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available under that contract,
the amount of any income foregone shall be treated as possessed by him, but only from the date on which it could be expected to be acquired were an application for it to be made.”;
(c) in paragraph (2C)—
(i) for “relevant personal pension scheme” there shall be substituted “relevant occupational or personal pension scheme”, and
(ii) for “under a personal pension scheme” there shall be substituted “under a scheme”;
(d) after paragraph (2C) there shall be inserted—
“(2CA) In paragraph (2A), “money purchase benefits” has the meaning it has in the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993.”; and
(e) at the end of paragraph (4) after “any payment in kind” there shall be added “to the third party”.
(4) For regulation 45 (capital limit) there shall be substituted the following regulation—
“Capital Limit
45. For the purposes of section 130(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act as it applies to income support (no entitlement to benefit if capital exceeds prescribed amount), the prescribed amount is £16,000.”.
(5) In regulation 51(2) (notional capital) after sub-paragraph (d) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—
“(da) an occupational pension scheme where the claimant is aged under 60; or”.
(6) In regulation 53 (calculation of tariff income from capital)—
(a) in paragraph (1)—
(i) the words “(1ZA) or” shall be omitted;
(ii) for “£3,000” (in both places where it occurs) there shall be substituted “£6,000”, and
(iii) for “£8,000” there shall be substituted “£16,000”;
(b) paragraph (1ZA) shall be omitted;
(c) in paragraph (1B) the words “and regulation 45” shall be omitted; and
(d) in paragraphs (2) and (3) “, (1ZA)” shall be omitted.
(7) In Schedule 3 (housing costs) in paragraph 14(4)(a) and (c) for “£8,000” there shall be substituted “£16,000”.
(8) In Schedule 9 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings)—
(a) in paragraph 21 after sub-paragraph (3) there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—
“(4) The reference in sub-paragraph (1) to “income in kind” does not include a payment to a third party made in respect of the claimant which is used by the third party to provide benefits in kind to the claimant.”;
(b) in paragraph 25—
(i) in sub-paragraph (1)(b) for “in accordance with regulations made under section 57A of the Adoption Act 1976 (permitted allowances) or paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or” there shall be substituted “pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or in accordance”, and
(ii) for sub-paragraph (1A) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—
“(1A) Any payment, other than a payment to which sub-paragraph (1)(b) applies, made to the claimant pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.”; and
(c) for paragraph 58 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—
“58. Any payment made under regulations made under section 8 of the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002.”.
(9) In Schedule 10 (capital to be disregarded)—
(a) for paragraph 63 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—
“63. Any payment made under regulations made under section 8 of the Carers and Direct Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 2002.”; and
(b) for paragraph 64 there shall be substituted the following paragraph—
“64. Any payment made to the claimant pursuant to regulations under section 2(6)(b), 3 or 4 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002.”.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2005/424/regulation/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-miscellaneous-amendments-no-2-regulations-northern-ireland-2005/regulation-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.