Explanatory note

Regulation 1 provides for citation, commencement and interpretation.

Regulations 2 to 4 amend the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1976, the Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 and the Personal Independence Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 respectively. The amendments provide that claimants who were living in an EEA state or Switzerland and to whom a relevant EU Regulation applied on 31st December 2020 (the last day of the transition period), maintain their rights to Carer’s Allowance, the care component of Disability Living Allowance and the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment, respectively, subject to certain conditions. The claimant must have been in continuous receipt of the benefit from 31st December 2020 and must not have been habitually resident in the United Kingdom after that date. These Regulations do not create grounds for new claims but rather provide a legislative basis for the continued payment of these benefits.

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 the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.