Supplementary Benefit (Single Payments) Regulations 1980
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1980 No. 985
SOCIAL SECURITY
The Supplementary Benefit (Single Payments) Regulations 198014thJuly 1980
17thJuly 1980
24thNovember 1980
ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS
PART I
GENERAL
1. Citation and commencement
2. Interpretation
3. Meaning of single payment and amount payable
4. Meaning of claimant
5. Effect of resources on amounts payable
6. Circumstances in which and items for which single payments shall not be made
PART II
MATERNITY NEEDS
7. Maternity needs
PART III
FUNERAL EXPENSES
8. Funeral expenses
PART IV
HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES
9. Essential furniture and household equipment
10. Repairs to furniture and household equipment and installation costs
11. Furniture and household goods on hire purchase
12. Bedclothes
PART V
HOUSING EXPENSES
13. Removal expenses
14. Deposits
15. Legal fees
16. Housing requirements of discharged prisoners
17. Essential repairs and maintenance of the home
18. Draughtproofing
19. Redecoration
20. Fuel meters and reconnection charges
21. Housing costs which arise irregularly
PART VI
MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES
22. Travelling expenses
23. Expenses on starting work
24. Debts accrued during absence abroad
25. Voluntary repatriation expenses
PART VII
ITEMS TO WHICH THE CATEGORIES OF NORMAL, ADDITIONAL AND HOUSING REQUIREMENTS RELATE
26. Costs where supplementary benefit not paid or not claimed
27. Clothing and footwear
28. Fuel costs
29. Prisoners on leave
PART VIII
DISCRETIONARY PAYMENTS
30. Discretionary payments
SCHEDULES
SCHEDULE 1 — Bedclothes
SCHEDULE 2 — Clothing
The Secretary of State for Social Services, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 1(3), 3(1), (2) and 14(2) (c) of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 (a) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following regulations:—
PART I
GENERAL
Citation and commencement
1. These regulations may be cited as the Supplementary Benefit (Single Payments) Regulations 1980 and shall come into operation on 24th November 1980.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
"the Act" means the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976;
"allowance" means a supplementary allowance under section 1(1)(b) of the Act;
"assessment unit" means the claimant and any partner and dependant of the claimant;
"available capital" in relation to a claimant means capital which falls to be disregarded under regulation 6(2) of the Resources Regulations;
"claimant" has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 4 of these regulations;
"close relative" means a parent, child, step-parent, step-child, brother or sister;
"dependant" meant a person whose requirements and resources, by virtue of paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 1 to the Act, are or would be aggregated with and treated as those of the claimant;
"employment" means full-time work, other than self-employment, within the meaning of section 6 of the Act;
"home" means the accommodation, with any garage, garden and out-buildings, normally occupied by the assessment unit and any other members of the same household as their home, and it includes also any premises not so occupied which it would be impracticable or unreasonable to expect to be sold separately, in particular, the croft land where, in Scotland, the home is a croft;
"normal requirements", "additional requirements" and "housing requirements" mean the requirements which are or would be taken into account in the determination of the claimant's requirements under Parts II, III and IV respectively of the Requirements Regulations;
"partner" means one of a married or unmarried couple;
(a) 1976 c. 71; the Act as amended (other than sections 31, 32, 35 and 36 and Schedules 4 and 6 to 8) is set out in Part II of Schedule 2 to the Social Security Act 1980 (c.30).
"patient" means a person (other than a prisoner) who is undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in any hospital or similar institution;
"pension" means a supplementary pension under section 1(1)(a) of the Act;
"prisoner" means a person who is in prison or otherwise detained in legal custody, including any period during which he is a patient in any hospital or similar institution while still liable to be so imprisoned or detained, or during which he is liable to be detained in such institution by virtue of any provision of the Mental Health Act 1959 (a) or the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960 (b);
"Requirements Regulations" means the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements) Regulations 1980;
"Resources Regulations" means the Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Regulations 1980;
"single payment" has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 3 of these regulations;
"the Social Security Act" means the Social Security Act 1975 (c).
(2) Except in so far as the context otherwise requires, any reference in these regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule is to the regulation in or Schedule to these regulations bearing that number and any reference in a regulation to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph of that regulation bearing that number.
Meaning of single payment and amount payable
3.—(1) In these regulations "single payment" means supplementary benefit payable by way of a single payment to meet an exceptional need in circumstances to which Parts II to VIII of these regulations apply.
(2) A single payment shall be made only where—
(a) there is a need for the item in question; and
(b) in a case in which the payment would be in respect of the purchase of a particular item, the assessment unit does not already possess that item or have available to it a suitable alternative item, and has not unreasonably disposed of, or failed to avail itself of, such an item.
(3) The amount of a single payment which falls to be made by virtue of any regulation in the said Parts shall be—
(a) the amount specified in that regulation; and
(b) where that amount is in respect of the cost of the purchase of an item, such amount as is necessary to purchase an item of reasonable quality,
except in so far as regulation 5 provides that no amount or a reduced amount shall be payable.
(4) Nothing in these regulations shall be construed as precluding the payment of two or more single payments payable by virtue of one or more regulations by means of a single instrument of payment.
(a) 1959 c. 72.
(b) 1960 c. 61.
(c) 1975 c. 14.
Meaning of claimant
4. In these regulations "claimant" means a person who claims a single payment and in respect of the day on which that claim is made either—
(a) he is entitled to a pension or allowance; or
(b) he would be entitled to a pension or allowance if he—
(i) made a claim for it, and
(ii) satisfied the conditions for claiming and payment of that pension or allowance prescribed pursuant to section 14 of the Act.
Effect of resources on amounts payable
5. Where a claimant has any available capital which is in excess of £300, any single payment which would, but for this regulation, be payable shall be payable only to the extent that its amount, or where more than one single payment falls to be made on the same day their aggregate amount, exceeds the amount by which that capital exceeds that £300.
Circumstances in which and items for which single payments shall not be made
6.—(1) Notwithstanding any provision in these regulations—
(a) no single payment shall be made if a single payment has already been made in respect of the circumstances in question and those circumstances have not changed;
(b) no single payment shall be made where any member of the assessment unit is a person to whom section 8 of the Act (persons affected by trade disputes) applies;
(c) no single payment shall be made in respect of a person in accommodation specified in sub-paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of paragraph (4) of regulation 10 of the Requirements Regulations ("residential accommodation"); and
(d) except in so far as regulation 25 (voluntary repatriation expenses) provides otherwise, no single payment shall be made in respect of any need which occurs outside Great Britain.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision in these regulations, in particular regulation 30 (discretionary payments), no single payment shall be made in respect of any of the following:—
(a) an educational or training need;
(b) distinctive school uniform or sport clothes or equipment;
(c) travelling expenses to or from school;
(d) school meals and meals taken during school holidays by children who are entitled to free school meals;
(e) mobility needs;
(f) garaging, parking, purchase and running costs of any motor vehicle;
(g) installation, rental and call charges for a telephone;
(h) a television or radio, or licence, aerial or rental charges for a television or radio;
(i) holidays;
(j) expenses arising from an appearance in a court such as travelling expenses, legal fees, court fees, fines, costs, damages or subsistence;
(k) removal charges where a claimant is permanently rehoused following the imposition of a compulsory purchase order, or a redevelopment or closing order, or a compulsory exchange of tenancies, or where those charges are met by the Manpower Services Commission;
(l) domestic assistance provided by a local authority;
(m) any repair to local authority property.
PART II
MATERNITY NEEDS
Maternity needs
7.—(1) Where any member of the assessment unit—
(a) is pregnant and has reached a stage in her pregnancy which is not more than 6 weeks before the expected week of confinement; or
(b) has recently given birth to a child,
a single payment shall be made for the purchase of such items as are necessary to meet the immediate needs of the child, other than any item to which section 1(3) of the Act (exclusion of medical requirements) applies.
(2) The items to which paragraph (1) shall apply may include in particular the following items:—
(a) clothing sufficient for a new-born baby;
(b) a sufficient quantity of napkins;
(c) a sufficient quantity of feeding bottles;
(d) a cot;
(e) a cot mattress;
(f) a pram or carry-cot;
(g) a sufficient quantity of cot blankets...
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