Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Disability Working Allowance (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992, the Family Credit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

In particular, these Regulations prescribe how sports awards should be treated for the purpose of ascertaining entitlement to the benefits referred to above—

• regulation 2 defines a sports award for the purposes of those benefits;

• regulations 3 to 6 prescribe that for the purposes of those benefits, a person undertaking an activity covered by a sports award shall not be treated as engaged in remunerative work, that a sports award shall not be treated as earnings of a self-employed earner and that a sports award shall be disregarded as income other than earnings and capital to the extent that it is not made in respect of living expenses.

In so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulations 2(1) and (2)(c) and 4 to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8), (“the 1992 Act”), after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee, they have not been so referred by virtue of section 150(1)(b) of that Act. Otherwise they make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Security in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the 1992 Act, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.