The Social Security (Young Persons) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Made: 13th March 2006

Coming into operation in accordance with regulation 1

The Social Security Advisory Committee has agreed that proposals in respect of regulation 3 should not be referred to it[^f00006].

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Young Persons) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 and shall come into operation—

• (a) for the purposes of regulations 2(8) and 4(10) on 10th April 2006 immediately after the coming into operation of Articles 16(3) and 22(3) of the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order (Northern Ireland) 2006[^f00007]; and

• (b) for all other purposes on 10th April 2006.

• (2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[^f00008] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendment of the Income Support (General) Regulations

2

• (1) The Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987[^f00009] shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (9).

• (2) For regulation 12[^f00010] (relevant education) there shall be substituted the following regulation—

(12) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person is to be treated as receiving relevant education if he is a qualifying young person within the meaning of section 138[^f00011] of the Contributions and Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person).

• (3) In regulation 13(2)[^f00012] (circumstances in which persons in relevant education are to be entitled to income support)—

• (a) for “aged 16 or over but under 19” there shall be substituted “who is a qualifying young person within the meaning of section 138 of the Contributions and Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person)”; and

• (b) for sub-paragraph (b) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraphs—

(b) has in his applicable amount the disability premium or severe disability premium; (bb) has satisfied the provisions of paragraph 7 of Schedule 1B for a continuous period of not less than 196 days and for this purpose any two or more separate periods separated by a break of not more than 56 days shall be treated as one continuous period; (bc) he is a person to whom paragraph 1 of Part I of the Schedule to the Social Security (Immigration and Asylum) Consequential Amendments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000[^f00013] applies;

• (4) In regulation 14 (persons of a prescribed description)—

• (a) in paragraph (1) for “aged 16 or over but under 19 who is treated as a child for the purposes of Article 4 of the Child Benefit (Northern Ireland) Order 1975 (meaning of child)” there shall be substituted “who falls within the definition of qualifying young person in section 138 of the Contributions and Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person)”; and

• (b) paragraph (2)(a)[^f00014] shall be omitted.

• (5) In regulation 54 (interpretation for liable relatives) in the definition of “young claimant” for “19” there shall be substituted “20”.

• (6) In regulation 61(1) (interpretation for students) in the definition of “full-time student”[^f00015] for “means a person,” there shall be substituted “means a person who is not a qualifying young person or child within the meaning of section 138 of the Contributions and Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person) and”.

• (7) In Schedule 1B[^f00016] (prescribed categories of person)—

• (a) in paragraph 15 (persons in education) for “severely handicapped persons” there shall be substituted “disabled persons, persons with limited leave to enter or remain”;

• (b) before paragraph 28 there shall be inserted the heading “Persons engaged in training”; and

• (c) in paragraph 28—

• (i) after “A person who is” there shall be inserted “not a qualifying young person or child within the meaning of section 138 of the Contributions and Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person), and who is”, and

• (ii) for “Department of Economic Development” there shall be substituted “Department for Employment and Learning”[^f00017].

• (8) In Schedule 2 (applicable amounts) in paragraph 2(1)(b)[^f00018] in column (1) for “nineteenth” there shall be substituted “twentieth”.

• (9) In Schedule 10 (capital to be disregarded) in paragraph 59[^f00019], in sub-paragraphs (2)(c)(ii)(bb) and (4)(c)(ii)(bb) for “19” there shall be substituted “20”.

Amendment of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations

3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations

4

• (1) The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996[^f00027] shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (11).

• (2) In regulation 1(2) (citation, commencement and interpretation) in the definition of “full-time student” after “training allowance” there shall be inserted “or a person who is a qualifying young person or child within the meaning of section 138 of the Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person)”.

• (3) In regulation 3C(1)(c)[^f00028] (entitlement of a new joint-claim couple to a jobseeker’s allowance) for “no longer receiving full-time education for the purposes of section 138 of the Benefits Act” there shall be substituted “not qualifying young persons within the meaning of section 138 of the Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person)”.

• (4) In regulation 54 (relevant education) for paragraph (2) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

(2) A child or young person shall be treated as receiving full-time education where he is a qualifying young person or child within the meaning of section 138 of the Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person).

• (5) In regulation 57 (interpretation of Part IV) for the definition of “child benefit extension period” there shall be substituted the following definition—

• “child benefit extension period” means the extension period within the meaning of regulation 5(3) of the Child Benefit (General) Regulations 2006[^f00029] (extension period: 16 and 17 year olds);

• (6) In regulation 76 (persons of a prescribed description)—

• (a) in paragraph (1) for “aged 16 or over but under 19 who is treated as a child for the purposes of section 138 of the Benefits Act (meaning of child)” there shall be substituted “who falls within the definition of qualifying young person in section 138 of the Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person)”; and

• (b) paragraph (2)(a)[^f00030] shall be omitted.

• (7) In regulation 117 (interpretation for liable relatives) in the definition of “young claimant” for “19” there shall be substituted “20”.

• (8) In regulation 168 (persons in receipt of a training allowance)—

• (a) in paragraph (1) after “within paragraph (2)” there shall be inserted “and is not a qualifying young person or child within the meaning of section 138 of the Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person)”; and

• (b) in paragraph (2) for “Department of Economic Development” there shall be substituted “Department for Employment and Learning”.

• (9) In Schedule A1[^f00031] (categories of members of a joint-claim couple who are not required to satisfy the conditions in Article 3(2B)(b) of the Order)—

• (a) in paragraph 2[^f00032] (member studying full-time) in sub-paragraphs (1)(a), (1A)(b)(i) and (2)(b)(i) for “aged 16 or over but under 19 and is receiving full-time education for the purposes of ” there shall be substituted “a qualifying young person within the meaning of ”; and

• (b) in paragraph 16 (young persons in training)—

• (i) after “A member who” there shall be inserted “is not a qualifying young person or child within the meaning of section 138 of the Benefits Act (child and qualifying young person) and who”, and

• (ii) for “Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment” there shall be substituted “Department for Employment and Learning”.

• (10) In Schedule 1 (applicable amounts) in paragraph 2(1)(b)[^f00033] in column (1) for “nineteenth” there shall be substituted “twentieth”.

• (11) In Schedule 7 (capital to be disregarded) in paragraph 52[^f00034], in sub-paragraphs (2)(c)(ii)(bb) and (4)(c)(ii)(bb) for “19” there shall be substituted “20”.

Amendment of the State Pension Credit Regulations

5

• (1) The State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003[^f00035] shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (6).

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) In Schedule 1 (circumstances in which persons are treated as being or not being severely disabled) in paragraph 2(2)(f) for “treated as a” there shall be substituted “a qualifying young person or”.

• (4) In Schedule 2 (housing costs) for “19” there shall be substituted “20” in each of the following provisions—

• (a) paragraph 1(2)(b)(i);

• (b) paragraph 1(5)(a);

• (c) paragraph 4(7)(c)(i);

• (d) paragraph 4(11)(c)(iii)[^f00036];

• (e) paragraph 4(11)(c)(vi);

• (f) paragraph 5(11)(b);

• (g) paragraph 10(1)(a);

• (h) paragraph 10(5)(b); and

• (i) paragraph 12(2)(l).

• (5) In Schedule 5 (income from capital) in the definition of “child” for “treated as” there shall be substituted “who is a qualifying young person or” in each of the following paragraphs—

• (a) paragraph 6(2); and

• (b) paragraph 15(8).

• (6) In Schedule 6 (sums disregarded from claimant’s earnings) in paragraph 1(2) in the definition of “child” for “treated as” there shall be substituted “who is a qualifying young person or”.

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 13th March 2006.

John O'Neill — A senior officer of the — Department for Social Development

The Department of Finance and Personnel hereby consents to regulation 3 of the foregoing Regulations

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Finance and Personnel on 14th March 2006.

Richard Pengelly — A senior officer of the — Department of Finance and Personnel

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 and the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.

The Child Benefit Act 2005 and the Child Benefit (General) Regulations 2006 change the entitlement conditions to child benefit, in particular the conditions relating to the person’s age and the education or training they are doing. The changes made to social security legislation by these Regulations are consequential to those changes (in order to maintain the interrelationship between child benefit and social security benefits).

In so far as these Regulations are required, for the purposes of regulation 3, to be referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, 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 in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, that Act, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.

These Regulations do not impose any charge on business.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1992 c. 7; section 123(1) was amended by paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 to the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 (c. 14 (N.I.)) and section 171(1) was amended by paragraph 5 of Schedule 4 to the Tax Credits Act 2002 (c. 21)

[^f00002]: S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15); Article 5 was amended, and Article 5A was inserted, by paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 7 to the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3147 (N.I. 11)); Article 6 was amended by paragraph 27(2) of Schedule 8 to the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 and paragraph 2(3) of the Schedule to S.R. 2006 No. 37; Article 36(2)(a) was amended by paragraph 55 of Schedule 3 to the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/671) and paragraphs 8A and 9C of Schedule 1 were inserted by paragraph 16 of Schedule 7 to the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

[^f00003]: See Article 8(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 481

[^f00004]: 2002 c. 14 (N.I.)

[^f00005]: See section 171(6A) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 as inserted by Article 3(3) of the Social Security (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 (S.I. 1993/1579 (N.I. 8)); see also Article 6(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 481

[^f00006]: See section 150(1)(b) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8)

[^f00007]: S.R. 2006 No. 109

[^f00008]: 1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

[^f00009]: S.R. 1987 No. 459; relevant amending rules are S.R. 1988 No. 318, S.R 1989 No. 249, S.R 1990 No. 131, S.R. 1991 No. 338, S.R. 1992 No. 403, S.R. 1993 No. 373, S.R. 1996 Nos. 199 and 476, S.R. 1999 No. 382, S.R. 2000 No. 241, S.R. 2001 No. 150, S.R. 2003 No. 195, S.R. 2005 Nos. 319 (C. 23) and 458 and S.R. 2006 No. 109

[^f00010]: Regulation 12 was substituted by regulation 5 of S.R. 1990 No. 131 and amended by regulation 4(4) of S.R. 1992 No. 403 and regulation 4(4) of S.R. 1993 No. 373

[^f00011]: Section 138 was substituted by section 2(2) of the Child Benefit Act 2005 (c. 6); see also regulation 2 of S.I. 2006/223

[^f00012]: Regulation 13(2) was amended by regulation 4 of S.R. 1989 No. 249 and regulation 6(a) of S.R. 1991 No. 338

[^f00013]: S.R. 2000 No. 71

[^f00015]: Regulation 61 was renumbered as regulation 61(1) by regulation 3(3), and the definition of “full-time student” was inserted by regulation 3(3)(a), of S.R. 2000 No. 241

[^f00016]: Schedule 1B was inserted by regulation 22 of, and Schedule 1 to, S.R. 1996 No. 199

[^f00017]: See Article 4(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 481 and section 1 of the Department for Employment and Learning Act (Northern Ireland) 2001 (c. 15 (N.I.))