# The Universal Credit and Miscellaneous Amendments (No.2) Regulations 2014, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulation)
These Regulations amend a number of different regulations relating to social security. The amendments relate to the new social security benefits introduced under the Welfare Reform Act 2012, in particular, universal credit and the new-style jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance, as well as to certain, older benefits including income support and income-based jobseeker’s allowance.
Regulation 3 amends respectively the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/376), the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207) the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1792), the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/213), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/214) and the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/794).
These amendments replace the current method by which a person is determined to be blind with the condition that they must be certified as severely sight impaired or blind by a consultant ophthalmologist. This is relevant for the purposes of calculating the amount of benefit payable to a claimant, such as when determining entitlement to an additional amount of benefit or calculating income.
Regulation 4 makes various amendments to the Universal Credit Regulations regarding the calculation of earned income.
Regulation 4(2) inserts a new paragraph (4A) into regulation 55 (employed earnings), which provides that certain repayments of income tax and national insurance contributions are treated as earned income.
Regulation 4(3) inserts a new paragraph (4A) into regulation 57 (self-employed earnings), which provides for the sale value of a business asset sold or no longer used for the purposes of self-employment to be treated as a receipt where the purchase value was previously deducted as an expense.
Regulation 4(4) substitutes a new regulation 61 (information for calculating earned income) into the Universal Credit Regulations. It provides that a person’s earned income is calculated either on the basis of information which they are required to provide to the Secretary of State or information reported to HMRC under the PAYE Regulations (where a person is employed by a Real Time Information employer) or, in certain circumstances, as decided by the Secretary of State.
Regulation 4(5) substitutes a new regulation 62 (minimum income floor) into the Universal Credit Regulations and regulation 4(6) substitutes a new paragraph into regulation 90(5) (claimants subject to no work-related requirements) into the same regulations. This provides that a claimant in gainful self-employment is assumed to have an amount of earned income set by reference to their individual threshold (and, in a case where a claimant is a member of a couple, the couple threshold) and is not subject to any work-related requirements.
Regulation 5(1)(a) amends the Social Security (Payments on Account of Benefit) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/383) (“the Payments on Account Regulations”) to ensure that where the claimant has to serve waiting days before certain benefits are due to be paid, a short-term benefit advance may be paid during (but not for) those days.
Regulation 5(2) and (3) amend respectively the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987/1968) and the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/380) (“the Claims and Payments Regulations”) to ensure that benefit can, in principle, be paid by direct credit transfer into any account nominated by the person entitled to the benefit or a person acting on his behalf. Regulation 5(1)(b) and (c) make identical provision for payment of short-term benefit advances and budgeting advances under the Payment on Account Regulations.
Regulation 6 amends Schedule 6 to the Claims and Payments Regulations to permit a deduction of between 10% and 20% of the claimant’s standard allowance in universal credit to be made and paid directly to a claimant’s landlord to cover arrears of rent. The amendment in paragraph (2)(a) allows the usual maximum level of deduction from the standard allowance (40% of the standard allowance) to be exceeded to allow a deduction equal to 10% of the standard allowance to be made to pay for rent arrears. The amendments in paragraph (2)(b) amend the priority order for deductions. The amendment in paragraph (2)(c) increases the amount which may be deducted to pay rent arrears from 5% to an amount no less than 10% and no more than 20% of the standard allowance in universal credit.
Regulation 7 amends the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5) and the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Act 2013 (c.16) to ensure that the current up-rating legislation applies directly to universal credit, as well as to existing weekly benefits, and aligns with the monthly assessment period cycle in universal credit. The amendments allow for up-ratings to the various elements of universal credit to be brought into force from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after the first Monday of the tax year (or from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after any earlier date in April specified in an up-rating order). They also allow for the up-rating of other benefits or elements which are taken into account in universal credit to be applied in universal credit from the start of the same assessment period in which the various elements of a claimant’s universal credit award are up-rated.
Regulation 8 makes various amendments to regulation 98(1) (victims of domestic violence) and regulation 99 (circumstances in which requirements must not be imposed) of the Universal Credit Regulations. These extend the time-limited exemptions from certain work-related requirements which apply to certain claimants who are responsible carers for children.
Regulation 8(2) specifies a further period during which work availability and work search requirements may not be imposed on any claimant who is usually subject to all work-related requirements, where they are a responsible carer for a child and have recently been a victim of domestic violence.
Regulation 8(3) creates further time-limited exemptions from work search and work availability requirements for any claimant who is the responsible carer for a child, where there has been a significant disruption to their normal childcare responsibilities in the last two years as a result of the child experiencing one of a specified list of bereavements, or being a victim of, or witness to, an incident of violence or abuse not perpetrated by the claimant.
Regulation 9(1) inserts a new subsection 133A into the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5) in connection with the obtaining or enforcement of rent repayment orders under section 73 or 96 of the Housing Act 2004 (c. 34) or section 32 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (anaw.7). In deciding on the amount of a rent repayment order under those sections, a tribunal will take account of the amount of housing benefit that has been paid in respect of the rental of the property in question, or of the amount of the housing costs element included in the calculation of an award of universal credit where such an award has been paid in respect of the rental of that property.
The new section 133A permits the Secretary of State, or a person providing services to the Secretary of State, to supply information that the Secretary of State or that person holds relating to an award of universal credit to a local housing authority (LHA), or to a licensing authority designated under section 3 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, for use in connection with obtaining such a rent repayment order, or recovering an amount payable under such an order. The section also permits such information to be provided to a person authorised to exercise any function of an LHA or licensing authority.
Regulation 9(2) amends the Rent Repayment Orders (Supplementary Provisions) (England) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/572) in order to make it clear that the Regulations apply both to rent repayment orders under section 73 of the Housing Act 2004 and to such orders under section 96 of that Act.
An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on business and civil society organisations. The instrument has no impact on the public sector.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2888/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/universal-credit-and-miscellaneous-amendments-no2-regulations-2014/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.