Supplementary Benefit (Single Payments) Regulations 1981

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 1981/1528

1981 No. 1528

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Supplementary Benefit (Single Payments) Regulations 1981

23rdOctober 1981

2ndNovember 1981

23rdNovember 1981

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

PART I

GENERAL

1. Citation and commencement

2. Interpretation

3. Meaning of single payment and determination of 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. Meaning of essential furniture and household equipment

10. Purchase, repair and installation of essential furniture and household equipment

11. Essential furniture and household equipment 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. Redecorating

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. Fuel costs

27. Clothing and footwear

28. Costs where supplementary benefit not paid or not claimed

29. Prisoners on leave

PART VIII

DISCRETIONARY PAYMENTS

30. Discretionary payments

PART IX

REVOCATIONS

31. Revocations

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE 1—Bedclothes

SCHEDULE 2—Clothing and footwear

SCHEDULE 3—Revocations

The Secretary of State for Social Services, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 3(1) and (2) and 14(2)(c) of the Supplementary Benefits Act 1976(a) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, and for the purpose only of consolidating regulations hereby revoked, hereby makes the following regulations:—

(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).

PART I

GENERAL

Citation and commencement

1. These regulations may be cited as the Supplementary Benefit (Single Payments) Regulations 1981 and shall come into operation on 23rd November 1981.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these regulations, unless the context other 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;

"claimant" has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 4 of these regulations;

"close relative" means a partner, spouse, parent, child, step-parent, stepchild, brother or sister;

"dependant" means 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;

"disregarded capital" in relation to a claimant means capital which falls to be disregarded under regulation 6(2) of the Resources Regulations;

"employment" means remunerative full-time work, other than self-employment, within the meaning of section 6(1) 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;

"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 any person whose detention in a prison, remand centre, borstal institution or detention centre is for the time being authorised by law;

"Requirements Regulations" means the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements) Regulations 1980(a);

"Resources Regulations" means the Supplementary Benefit (Resources) Regulations 1981(b);

"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).

(a) S.I. 1980/1299.

(b) S.I. 1981/1527.

(c) 1975 c. 14.

(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 determination of 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) Except in so far as regulation 5 provides that no amount or a reduced amount shall be payable, the amount of a single payment which falls to be made by virtue of any regulation in Parts II to VII of these regulations shall be—

(a) subject to paragraph (5), the amount, if any, specified in that regulation;

(b) if no amount is so specified—

(i) where that regulation provides that the payment is to be made in respect of the purchase of an item, such amount as is necessary to purchase an item of reasonable quality, or

(ii) where that regulation provides that the payment is to be made in respect of costs of services provided, the amount of such costs to the extent that they are reasonable.

(4) The amount of a single payment which falls to be made by virtue of regulation 30 (which is in Part VIII of these regulations and relates to discretionary payments) shall be determined according to the provisions of that regulation.

(5) Where pursuant to regulation 25 of the Supplementary Benefit (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1981 (a) (payment of single payments to third parties) a single payment is payable direct to the person who or the body who supplied the item in respect of which it is made, the amount of the single payment shall, notwithstanding any provision in these regulations, be the amount applicable under paragraph (3)(a) or, as the case may be, regulation 30(3)(a)(i), or the actual cost of the item in respect of which it is made, whichever is less.

(6) 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.

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

(a) S.I. 1981/1525.

(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,

but does not include a person who is or would be entitled to a pension or allowance by virtue only of the Supplementary Benefit (Urgent Cases) Regulations 1981 (a) during any period to which regulation 5(3)(a) of those regulations (first 14 days) applies or would apply in the determination of the requirements applicable to him.

Effect of resources on amounts payable

5. Except in so far as regulations 16, 21, 25 and 30 provide otherwise, where a claimant has any disregarded 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, in particular regulation 30—

(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 whose requirements fall to be disregarded to any extent by virtue of section 8 of the Act (persons affected by trade disputes);

(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, no single payment shall be made in respect of any of the following:—

(a) an educational or training need;

(b) distinctive school uniform or sports 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...

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