The Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Costs (Executive Determinations) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020

Made: at 9.10 a.m. on 15th January 2020

Laid before Parliament: at 4.30 p.m. on 15th January 2020

Coming into force: 30th January 2020

These powers are exercisable by the Secretary of State by virtue of Article 4(1) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Costs (Executive Determinations) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 and shall come into operation on 30th January 2020.

• (2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[^f00003] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendment to the Housing Benefit (Executive Determinations) Regulations 2008

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• (1) The Housing Benefit (Executive Determinations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008[^f00004] are amended as follows.

• (2) In regulation 3(1A) (broad rental market area determinations)[^f00005] for “2(2A) or (2B)” substitute “2(2)”.

• (3) In type=start slip=2020-03-01 time=1583851587441Scheduletype=end slip=2020-03-01 time=1583851587441 (local housing allowance determinations)—

• (a) in paragraph 2 (local housing allowance for category of accommodation in paragraph 1), for sub-paragraphs (2A), (2B), (3) and (3A) substitute—

(2) The local housing allowance for any category of accommodation is the lowest of— (a) the rent at the 30th percentile determined type=start slip=2020-03-01 time=1583851628814in accordance with sub-paragraphs (4) to (8);type=end slip=2020-03-01 time=1583851628814 (b) the local housing allowance last determined for that category of accommodation (or, where the determination is amended under regulation 14F of the Housing Benefit Regulations, the allowance provided for in the amended determination), increased by 1.7%; and (c) for a category of accommodation listed in column 1 of the following table, the amount listed in column 2 of that table (maximum local housing allowance)—

Amendment to the Universal Credit Housing Costs (Executive Determinations) Regulations 2016

3

• (1) The Universal Credit Housing Costs (Executive Determinations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016[^f00006] are amended as follows.

• (2) In regulation 3(2A)[^f00007] (broad rental market area determination) for “2(1A) or (1B)” substitute “2(2)”.

• (3) In Schedule 1 (local housing allowance determinations)—

• (a) in paragraph 2 (local housing allowance for category of accommodation in paragraph 1), for sub-paragraphs (1A), (1B), (2) and (2A) substitute—

(2) The local housing allowance for any category of accommodation is the lowest of— (a) the rent at the 30th percentile determined in accordance with paragraph 3; (b) the local housing allowance last determined for that category of accommodation (or, where the allowance is redetermined under regulation 5 (redeterminations), the allowance as so redetermined), increased by 1.7%; and (c) for a category of accommodation listed in column 1 of the following table, the amount listed in column 2 of that table (maximum local housing allowance)—

Signed

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Baroness Stedman-Scott — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Department of Work and Pensions — At 9.10 a.m. on 15th January 2020

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend the Housing Benefit (Executive Determinations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (“the 2008 Executive Determinations Regulations”) and the Universal Credit Housing Costs (Executive Determinations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 (“the 2016 Executive Determinations Regulations”) to make changes to the manner in which the local housing allowance is determined.

Regulation 2 amends the Executive Determinations Regulations to provide that, for any category of accommodation the local housing allowance is the lowest of;

The increase of 1.7% in the local housing allowance is representative of the increase in the Consumer Price Index over 12 months as determined by the Office for National Statistics in September 2019[^f00009].

Regulation 3 makes equivalent provision in relation to the 2016 Executive Determinations Regulations.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on business or civil society organisations.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1992 c. 7; section 129A was inserted by section 30(2) of the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 (2007 c. 2 (N.I.)) and section 171(1) was amended by paragraph 5 of Schedule 4 to the Tax Credits Act 2002 (c. 21). For the meaning of “prescribed” see section 133.

[^f00002]: S.I 2015/2006 (N.I. 1); for the meaning of “regulations” see Article 5.

[^f00003]: 1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

[^f00004]: S.R. 2008 No. 100.

[^f00006]: S.R. 2016 No. 222 was amended by S.R. 2017 No. 144.

[^f00007]: Paragraph (1A) was inserted by regulation 2(2) of S.R. 2017 No. 144.

[^f00008]: Paragraph 5 was added by regulation 2(3)(b) of S.R. 2017 No. 144.

[^f00009]: See https//www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpricesindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/september2019