Social Security Act 1990
| Year | 1990 |
Social Security Act 1990
1990 CHAPTER 27
An Act to amend the law relating to social security and to occupational and personal pension schemes; to establish and confer functions on a Pensions Ombudsman and a Registrar of Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes; to make provision for the payment of grants for the improvement of energy efficiency in certain dwellings; and for purposes connected therewith.
[13th July 1990]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Benefits
1 Attendance allowance for the terminally ill.
(1) In section 35 of the principal Act (attendance allowance) after subsection (2A) there shall be inserted—
(2B) If a terminally ill person makes a claim expressly on the ground that he is such a person, then—
(a) he shall be taken for the purposes of subsection (2) above—
(i) to satisfy, or to be likely to satisfy, both of those conditions for the remainder of his life, beginning with the date of the claim or, if later, the date determined under section 105 or 106 below as the first date on which he is terminally ill; and
(ii)to have satisfied those conditions for the period of six months immediately preceding that date (so however that no allowance shall be payable by virtue of this sub-paragraph for any period preceding that date); and(b) the period specified in a certificate issued by virtue of paragraph (a) above shall be the remainder of the person's life, beginning with that date.
(2C) For the purposes of subsection (2B) above—
(a) a person is ‘terminally ill’ at any time if at that time he suffers from a progressive disease and his death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 6 months; and
(b) where a person purports to make a claim for an attendance allowance by virtue of that subsection on behalf of another, that other shall be regarded as making the claim, notwithstanding that it is made without his knowledge or authority.’
(2) In subsection (4) of that section, after the words ‘otherwise provide’ there shall be inserted the words ‘and subject to subsection (2B) above’.
(3) In section 105(3) of that Act (questions to be determined by the Attendance Allowance Board) after the words ‘whether a person’ there shall be inserted ‘(a)’ and for the words ‘section 35(1) of this Act’ there shall be substituted the words—
‘subsection (1) of section 35 above;
(b) suffers, or has at any time suffered, from renal failure, for the purposes of subsection (2A) of that section; or
(c) is or has at any time been terminally ill, within the meaning of subsection (2B) of that section,’.
(4) In section 106 of that Act (review of, and appeal from, Board's decisions) at the beginning of subsection (1) there shall be inserted the words ‘Subject to the following provisions of this section’ and after paragraph (a) of that subsection there shall be inserted—
‘(aa) at any time review a determination of theirs under section 105(3) above or this subsection of any question whether a person is or was at any time terminally ill, within the meaning of section 35(2B) above, if there has been a change in medical opinion with respect to his condition or his reasonable expectation of life;’.
(5) After that subsection there shall be inserted—
(1A) No determination under section 105(3) or subsection (1) above shall be reviewed on the ground that the person in question is or was at any time terminally ill, within the meaning of section 35(2B) above, unless an application for review is made expressly on that ground either—
(a) by the person himself; or
(b) by any other person purporting to act on his behalf, whether or not that other person is acting with his knowledge or authority;
and a determination may be so reviewed on such an application, notwithstanding that no claim under section 35(2B) above has been made.’
(6) In section 165A of that Act (making of claim a condition of entitlement) there shall be added at the end—
(3) Where a person purports to make a claim for an attendance allowance by virtue of section 35(2B) above on behalf of another, that other shall be regarded for the purposes of this section as making the claim, notwithstanding that it is made without his knowledge or authority.’
(7) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to publish a draft of the first form to be used by terminally ill persons for claiming an attendance allowance, to invite comments on the draft from interested persons and organisations and to consider any such comments received within one month of that invitation before ordering the printing of the form.
2 Severe disablement allowance: age related addition.
(1) After section 36 of the principal Act (severe disablement allowance) there shall be inserted the following section—
36A ‘Severe disablement allowance: age related addition.
(1) If a person was under the age of 60 on the day on which he qualified for severe disablement allowance, the weekly rate of his severe disablement allowance shall be increased by an age related addition at whichever of the weekly rates specified in the second column of paragraph 2A of Part III of Schedule 4 to this Act is applicable in his case, that is to say—
(a) the higher rate, if he was under the age of 40 on the day on which he qualified for severe disablement allowance;
(b) the middle rate, if he was between the ages of 40 and 50 on that day; or
(c) the lower rate, if he was between the ages of 50 and 60 on that day.
(2) Subject to subsection (4) below, for the purposes of this section the day on which a person qualified for severe disablement allowance is his first day of incapacity for work in the period of not less than 196 consecutive days mentioned in section 36(2)(b) or (3)(b) above, as the case may be, which preceded the first day in his current period of entitlement.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a person's ‘current period of entitlement’ is a current period—
(a) which consists of one or more consecutive days on which he is or has been entitled to a severe disablement allowance; and
(b) which begins immediately after the last period of one or more consecutive days for which he was not entitled to such an allowance.
(4) Regulations—
(a) may prescribe cases where a person is to be treated for the purposes of this section as having qualified for severe disablement allowance on a prescribed day earlier than the day ascertained in accordance with subsection (2) above;
(b) may provide for days which are not days of incapacity for work in relation to a person to be treated as days of incapacity for work for the purpose of determining under this section the day on which he qualified for severe disablement allowance; and
(c) may make provision for disregarding prescribed days in computing any period of consecutive days for the purposes of subsection (3) above.’
(2) In Part III of Schedule 4 to that Act, after paragraph 2 (weekly rate of severe disablement allowance) there shall be inserted the following—
‘2A. Age related addition (section 36A). |
(a) Higher rate ... 10.00 (b) Middle rate ... 6.20 (c) Lower rate ... ... 3.10 (the appropriate rate being determined in accordance with section 36A(1))’. |
(3) In consequence of subsections (1) and (2) above, in section 34(1)(b) of that Act (which specifies severe disablement allowance as one of the non-contributory benefits under Chapter II of Part II of that Act) after the word ‘(with’ there shall be inserted the words ‘age related addition and’.
3 Reduced earnings allowance and retirement allowance.
(1) In subsection (1) of section 59A of the principal Act (conditions of entitlement to reduced earnings allowance) after paragraph (b) there shall be added the words—
‘but a person shall not be entitled to reduced earnings allowance to the extent that the relevant loss of faculty results from an accident happening on or after the appointed day.’
(2) After that subsection there shall be inserted—
(1A) A person—
(a) who immediately before the appointed day is entitled to reduced earnings allowance in consequence of the relevant accident, but
(b) who subsequently ceases to be entitled to that allowance for one or more days,
shall not again be entitled to reduced earnings allowance in consequence of that accident; but this subsection does not prevent the making at any time of a claim for, or an award of, reduced earnings allowance in consequence of that accident for a period which commences not later than the day after that on which the claimant was last entitled to that allowance in consequence of that accident.
(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1A) above—
(a) a person who, apart from section 57(4) above, would have been entitled to reduced earnings allowance immediately before the appointed day shall be treated as entitled to that allowance on any day (including a Sunday) on which he would have been entitled to it apart from that provision;
(b) regulations may prescribe other circumstances in which a person is to be treated as entitled, or as having been entitled, to reduced earnings allowance on any prescribed day.’
(3) In paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of that section (further awards) after the words ‘for such further period’ there shall be inserted the words ‘, commencing as mentioned in subsection (1A) above,’.
(4) After subsection (10A) of that section there shall be inserted—
(10B) In this section ‘the...
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