Explanatory note

These Regulations bring into force a scheme to pay lump sums to housing benefit claimants who move from under-occupied dwellings in the public or social rented sector to a dwelling which is not under-occupied or is under-occupied to a lesser extent.

The scheme enables payments to housing benefit claimants who occupy dwellings in the area of any of the three local authorities listed in Schedule 1.

Regulations 2 and 4 specify the conditions of entitlement to a payment.

Regulations 3, 7 and 8 enable applications for payments to be made and require local authorities to consider these applications and reply, making a payment offer if appropriate.

Regulations 5 and 6 state how the payment is to be calculated and the deductions that may be made.

Regulation 9 enables applicants to apply for a review of the local authority’s decision on an application. There is a right of appeal from that review to the County Court under regulation 10.

Regulation 11 authorises payments to be made if the person concerned moves to the qualifying dwelling in respect of which the payment offer was made within six months of accepting the offer.

Regulation 12 makes amendments to regulations relating to housing benefit, council tax benefit, income support and jobseeker’s allowance so that the payment is disregarded as capital for a period of 52 weeks from the date of payment.

Regulation 13 enables payments to be recovered (in whole or in part) under section 75 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 if the local authority that made the payment subsequently determine that the information used to calculate the payment was incorrect. However, a payment cannot be recovered if the mistake was made by the authority or other officials and the person who made the application could not have been expected to realise a mistake had been made.

Regulation 14 specifies the conditions which apply to the reimbursement of payments by the Secretary of State under section 79(8) of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999.

Regulations 1 and 15 state that the regulations expire on 31st March 2003 and no reply or payment offer may be made in respect of an application for a payment received on or after that date.

These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.