Housing Benefit (General) Amendment Regulations 1990
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1990/546 |
1990 No. 546
HOUSING, ENGLAND AND WALES
HOUSING, SCOTLAND
SOCIAL SECURITY
The Housing Benefit (General) Amendment Regulations 1990
Made 8th March 1990
Laid before Parliament 12th March 1990
The Secretary of State for Social Security in exercise of powers conferred by sections 20(1)(c), (8), (11), (12)(i), 21(6), 22(1), (3), (8), (9), 29(2), 30(2B) and (2C), 51(1)(a), (l), (m), (r) and (t), 51B(1) and 84(1) of the Social Security Act 19861and section 166(1) to (3A) of the Social Security Act 19752and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, after consultation with organisations appearing to him to be representative of authorities concerned3and after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee that proposals to make these Regulations should not be referred to it4, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Benefit (General) Amendment Regulations 1990 and shall come into force–
(a)
(a) in any case to which paragraph (2) applies, on 1st April 1990, and
(b)
(b) in any other case, on 2nd April 1990.
(2) This paragraph applies in any case where rent is payable at intervals of one month or any other interval which is not a week or a multiple thereof.
(3) In any case in which these Regulations and the Social Security Benefits Up-Rating Order 19905come into force on the same day, these Regulations shall come into force immediately after that Order.
(4) In these Regulations “the General Regulations” means the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 19876.
Amendment of regulation 2 of the General Regulations
2. In regulation 2(1) of the General Regulations (interpretation)–
(a) in the definition of “lone parent” for the words “is not a” there shall be substituted the words “has no”;
(b) after the definition of “the Macfarlane Trust” there shall be inserted the following definition–
““training allowance” means an allowance (whether by way of periodical grants or otherwise) payable–
(a) out of public funds by a Government department or by or on behalf of the Training Agency;
(b) to a person for his maintenance or in respect of a member of his family; and
(c) for the period, or part of the period, during which he is following a course of training or instruction provided by, or in pursuance of arrangements made with, that department or approved by that department in relation to him or so provided or approved by or on behalf of that Agency,
but it does not include an allowance paid by any Government department to or in respect of a person by reason of the fact that he is following a course of full-time education, other than under arrangements made under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 19737or is training as a teacher;”.
Amendment of regulation 3 of the General Regulations
3. In regulation 3(2)(d) of the General Regulations (definition of non-dependent) at the end there shall be added the words “and is either a co-owner of that dwelling with the claimant or his partner (whether or not there are other co-owners) or is liable with the claimant or his partner to make payments in respect of his occupation of the dwelling.”.
Amendment of regulation 11 of the General Regulations
4. In regulation 11(1A) of the General Regulations (restrictions on unreasonable payments)8, at the end there shall be inserted the words “during the period of 12 months beginning with the first day on which that determination had effect.”.
Insertion of regulation 12A in the General Regulations
5. The following regulation shall be inserted after regulation 12 of the General Regulations (restrictions on rent increases)–
“Requirement to refer to rent officers
12A.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), an appropriate local authority shall apply to a rent officer for a determination to be made in pursuance of the Housing Act functions where it has received–
(a)
(a) a claim on which rent allowance may be awarded; or
(b)
(b) a notification of a change relating to a rent allowance.
(2) An application shall not be required under paragraph (1) where a claim or notification relates to either–
(a)
(a) a dwelling in a hostel if, during the period of 12 months which ends on the day on which that claim or notification is received by the appropriate local authority–
(i) a rent officer has already made a determination in the exercise of the Housing Act functions in respect of a dwelling in that hostel which is a similar dwelling to the dwelling to which the claim or notification relates; and
(ii) that determination or, if there has been more than one such determination, the most recent, was made in respect of a claim for a period beginning on or after 9th October 1989; and
(iii) there has been no change relating to a rent allowance that has affected the dwelling in respect of which that determination was made; or
(b)
(b) an “excluded tenancy” within the meaning of Schedule 1A (excluded tenancies).
(3) Where an application to a rent officer is required by paragraph (1) it shall be made within 3 days, or as soon as practicable thereafter, of the appropriate local authority receiving–
(a)
(a) a claim on which rent allowance may be awarded; or
(b)
(b) a notification of a change relating to a rent allowance.
(4) For the purposes of calculating the period of 3 days mentioned in paragraph (3), no regard shall be had to any day on which the offices of the appropriate local authority are closed for the purposes of receiving or determining claims.
(5) In a pre-commencement case in which an appropriate local authority has not made an application to a rent officer to make a determination in the exercise of the Housing Act functions but would have been under a duty to make such an application if paragraphs (1) to (3) and (7) had been in force, an appropriate local authority shall apply to a rent officer for a determination to be made in pursuance of those functions within 6 weeks of–
(a)
(a) 2nd April 1990; or
(b)
(b) the date on which, in the opinion of the appropriate local authority, all of the information which a rent officer would require for the purposes of exercising the Housing Act functions has been received by the appropriate authority,
whichever is the later.
(6) Applications referred to rent officers under paragraph (5) shall be determined–
(a)
(a) in a case in which the tenancy has come to an end before the application is referred to the Rent Officer, on the assumption that the facts relevant to the determination of that application were those which existed on the last day of the tenancy, and
(b)
(b) in any other case, on the assumption that the facts relevant to the determination of the application are those which exist on the date on which that application is referred.
(7) For the purposes of this regulation a dwelling in a hostel shall be regarded as similar to another dwelling in that hostel if each provides sleeping accommodation for the same number of persons.
(8) In this regulation–
“change relating to a rent allowance” means a change or increase to which paragraph 2(3)(a), (b), (c) or (d) of Schedule 1A applies;
“determination” includes a further determination but does not include a re-determination within the meaning of the Order or, as the case may be, the Scottish Order or an interim determination;
“hostel” means a building–
(a) in which there is provided for persons generally or for a class of persons, domestic accommodation, otherwise than in separate and self-contained premises, and either board or facilities for the prepara tion of food adequate to the needs of those persons, or both and–
(b) which is–
(i) managed or owned by a registered housing association; or
(ii) operated other than on a commercial basis and in respect of which funds are provided wholly or in part by a government department or agency or a local authority; or
(iii) managed by a voluntary body or charity and provides care, support or supervision with a view to assisting those persons to be rehabilitated or resettled within the community;
other than a residential care home, a nursing home or residential accommoda tion within the meaning of regulation 21(3) of the Income Support (General) Regulations 19879;
“Housing Act functions” has the same meaning as in section 30(2A) of the Act;
“Housing for Wales” has the same meaning as in section 46 of the Housing Act 198810;
“nursing home” and “residential care home” have the same meanings as in regulation 19(3) of the Income Support (General) Regulations 198711(income support applicable amounts for persons in residential care and nursing homes);
“pre-commencement case” has the same meaning as in section 30(2C) of the Act12;
“registered housing association” means a housing association which is registered in a register maintained under section 3 of the Housing Associations Act 198513by the Housing Corporation, Scottish Homes or Housing for Wales;
“Scottish Homes” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 198814;
“tenancy” includes–
(a) in Scotland, any other right of occupancy; and
(b) in any other case, a licence to occupy premises,
and reference to a tenant, landlord or any other expression appropriate to a tenancy shall be construed accordingly;
“the Housing Corporation” has the same meaning as in Part III of the Housing Associations Act 1985;”.
Amendment of regulation 13 of the General Regulations
6. In regulation 13(2) of the General Regulations (persons of a prescribed description) there shall be added at the end the words “or to a person who is receiving advanced education within the meaning of regulation 12(2) of the Income Support (General)...
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