Explanatory note

These Regulations make amendments to the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (S.R. 1997 No. 429), 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 Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) (Lump Sum Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (S.R. 2008 No. 355), the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (S.R. 2008 No. 280), the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 216), the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 226), the Social Security (Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 224) and the Personal Independence Payment (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.R. 2016 No. 227).

Regulation 1 provides for citation, commencement and interpretation.

Regulations 2 and 7 amend respectively the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 and the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) (Lump Sum Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 to exempt payments under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme established by the Irish Government under the Irish Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023 (No. 20 of 2023 of the Acts of the Oireachtas of the Republic of Ireland) from compensation recovery pursuant to the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1183 (N.I. 12)).

Regulations 3, 4, 5 and 6 amend respectively the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 and the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008. In particular, they amend as appropriate 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 under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.

Regulation 3 also amends regulation 5 of the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, which determines whether a person is treated as being or not being a member of the same household as the claimant, including while they are temporarily absent from Northern Ireland. Paragraph (1D) of regulation 5 provides for a category of permitted temporary absence outside Northern Ireland applying to persons who, during such a period of absence, were in a country or territory immediately before His Majesty’s Government provided public information to advise British nationals to leave that country or territory or arranged the evacuation of British nationals from that country or territory. The amendment makes it clear that this category of permitted absence applies only where the person is abroad pursuant to other temporary absence provisions when the public information was issued or the evacuation began.

Regulation 8 amends the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 to clarify that a claimant’s employed earnings for universal credit purposes are not to be reduced by reference to any mileage allowance relief provided through the tax system, and to introduce new disregards for payments made under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme.

Regulation 9 provides that when calculating the adjustment of a transitional element under regulation 56 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, if the LCW element or the LCWRA element replaces the carer element, or if the carer element replaces either the LCW element or the LCWRA element, the “relevant increase” is the net increase (if any) between the two amounts.

Regulation 10 amends regulation 14 of the Social Security (Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 so that the rate of recovery for deduction of state pension credit for overpayments of the prescribed benefits resulting from an admission of fraud, a fraud conviction or an administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution is increased from 5 times 5 per cent. (25%) to 8 times 5 per cent. (40%).

Regulation 11 amends regulation 13 of the Personal Independence Payment (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (the PIP Transitional Regulations), which makes provision for ending an award of disability living allowance (DLA) where a transfer claimant (as defined by regulation 2 of those Regulations) fails to comply with requirements connected with a personal independence payment (PIP) claim. Regulation 13 of the PIP Transitional Regulations applies in two scenarios. The first is where a ‘negative determination’ is made under regulation 8 or 9 of the Personal Independence Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 because the claimant has failed to provide information or evidence or has failed to attend or participate in a required consultation. The second is where there is a determination that the claimant has failed to comply with a requirement imposed under regulation 34 or 36 of the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 in connection with a PIP claim.

Regulation 11 inserts a new paragraph (1A) into regulation 13 of the PIP Transitional Regulations. The new paragraph provides that where it is accepted that the claimant had good reason for the failure giving rise to a determination under regulation 13(1), that determination is treated as not having been made and the claimant’s award of DLA is reinstated as if the determination had never been made. This applies regardless of whether entitlement to PIP is determined as part of the same revision, appeal or other proceedings. Regulation 11 also removes regulation 13(2) and makes consequential amendments to regulation 17. The effect is that all successful good reason claimants are treated under the same legislative framework and are subject to the same DLA run-on and PIP commencement provisions, regardless of how or when entitlement to PIP is determined.

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, are not subject to requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.