Explanatory note

These Regulations amend regulation 16 of the Social Security (Payments on account, Overpayments and Recovery) Regulations 1988 by substituting a new paragraph (5) and making consequential amendments to paragraph (8).

Previously the higher rate of deduction to recover overpayments from income support or jobseeker’s allowance could only be applied to a person who had been found guilty of an offence or had made a written statement after caution admitting deception or fraud.

These Regulations apply the higher rate of deduction also to a person who after caution makes an unwritten admission of deception or fraud or who agrees to pay a penalty as an alternative to prosecution.

By virtue of regulation 3, these Regulations do not impose the higher rate of deduction on the new classes of case where the misrepresentation of or failure to disclose a material fact occurred before these Regulations came into force.

These Regulations do not impose a cost on business.