Explanatory note

These Regulations further amend the Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Regulations 1981.

They provide for the disregard of custodianship payments made by a local authority which represent a specific payment for a need not met by supplementary or housing benefit and arrears of periodical payments for maintenance, and also to treat an advance of future periodical payments as income to be attributed for the same period as the individual payments would have been, had they been paid periodically, and disregard the excess of any custodianship payment in excess of the child’s normal and additional requirements (regulations 3, 5, 6 and 7).

They provide that a student is to be treated as possessing income of an amount equal to the assessed parental or spouse’s contribution to the grant except in the case of an exempted student (regulation 4).

They provide that extra-statutory payments should be disregarded or taken into account as a resource to the same extent as the benefit which they represent (regulations 5 and 7(e), (f) and (g)).

They provide that income in the form of a Manpower Services Commission maintenance allowance in respect of a claimant’s partner, is to be taken fully into account except where the claimant was in receipt of such an allowance and receiving supplementary benefit before 6th April 1987, and that any statutory maternity pay is also to be taken fully into account as income (regulations 7 and 8).

They provide that any grant income in excess of the standard maintenance grant of a student, and any income under a Deed of Covenant made by the student’s parent or spouse in excess of that person’s assessed contribution to the student’s grant or, where the student is not in receipt of a grant, an amount equal to the standard maintenance grant in his case, is to be taken fully into account as income (regulation 7(b), (c) and (d)).

The report of the Social Security Advisory Committee on the proposals as to these Regulations dated the 17 December 1986 and the statement of the Secretary of State showing the extent to which the Regulations reflect the recommendations of that Committee, and to the extent that they do not, the reasons why not, are published by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office as Command Paper No. 106.