Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/376) (“the UC Regulations”) and the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/379) (“the ESA Regulations”) by setting out an additional exception to the requirement to accept a claimant commitment which is a condition of entitlement.

Regulation 16 of the UC Regulations and regulation 45 of the ESA Regulations contain two exceptions to the requirement to accept a claimant commitment, that is, where the Secretary of State considers that a person lacks capacity to accept a claimant commitment and where there are exceptional circumstances in which it would be unreasonable to expect a person to accept a claimant commitment. These Regulations provide an additional exception which exempts terminally ill claimants from the requirement to accept a claimant commitment. “Terminally ill” is defined in regulation 2 of the UC Regulations and regulation 2 of the ESA Regulations and means suffering from a progressive disease where death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 6 months.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, public or voluntary sectors is foreseen.