The National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Regulations 2003
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Citation | SSI 2003/376 |
| Year | 2003 |
2003 No. 376
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
The National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Regulations 2003
Made 1st August 2003
Laid before the Scottish Parliament 1st August 2003
Coming into force 5th August 2003
The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 75A, 105(7) and 108(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 19781, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 5th August 2003.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–
“the Act” means the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978;
“capital limit” in the case of–
(a) a person who lives permanently in accommodation provided by a care home service provider under section 2(3) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 20012, or in accommodation provided by a local authority under sections 21 to 24 and 26 of the National Assistance Act 19483, means the sum specified in regulation 20 of the National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 19924; and
(b) any other person, means the amount prescribed for the purposes of section 134(1) of the Social Security Contribution and Benefits Act 19925;
“child tax credit” means child tax credit under section 1(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 20026;
“claimant” means a person who makes a claim for remission, payment or repayment in accordance with regulation 9 or 11;
“date of claim” means the date on which a claim made under regulation 9(1) or regulation 11(2) is received in an appropriate office or by the Secretary of State;
“disability element” means the disability element of working tax credit as specified in section 11(3) of the Tax Credits Act 2002;
“family” has the meaning assigned to it by section 137(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19927as it applies to income support, except that:
(a) in regulation 4(2)(j) and (l) it has the meaning assigned to it by section 35 of the Jobseekers Act 19958;
(b) in regulation 4(2)(n) it has the meaning assigned to it by regulation 2(2) of the Tax Credits (Definition and Calculation of Income) Regulations 20029; and
(c) where a claim has been made for support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 199910, it means the asylum-seeker who has made that claim and any dependant, as defined in section 94 of that Act, whom the asylum-seeker has included in that claim;
“full rate” means the rate determined under section 26(2) of the National Assistance Act 194811;
“income-based jobseeker’s allowance” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(4) of the Jobseekers Act 199512;
“income support” means income support under section 124 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and includes personal expenses addition, special transitional addition and transitional addition as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Income Support (Transitional) Regulations 198713;
“partner” means, where a claimant–
(a) is a member of a married or an unmarried couple, the other member of that couple; or
(b) is married polygamously to two or more members of the claimant’s household, any such member;
“relevant charges” and “relevant travelling expenses” have the meanings prescribed by regulation 3(1);
“the relevant income” has the same meaning as in section 7(3) of Part 1 of the Tax Credits Act 200214;
“standard rate” means the standard rate fixed in accordance with section 22(2) of the National Assistance Act 194815;
“trade dispute” has the same meaning as in section 218(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 199216;
“week” means a period of 7 days beginning at midnight between Saturday and Sunday; and
“working tax credit” means working tax credit under section (1)(b) of the Tax Credits Act 2002.
Entitlement to full remission and payment
3.—(1) Any person of a description prescribed by regulation 4 is entitled, in accordance with the following provisions of these Regulations, to the remission of the whole amount of any charges specified in paragraph (2) which would otherwise be payable by that person (“relevant charges”), and to payment, in accordance with regulation 6, of the whole amount of the travelling expenses including, where applicable, the whole amount of the overnight accommodation expenses, referred to in paragraphs (3), (4) and (5) (“relevant travelling expenses”).
(2) The specified charges for the purpose of paragraph (1) are–
(a)
(a) charges for drugs, medicines, appliances and pharmaceutical services payable in pursuance of section 69(1) of the Act17; and
(b)
(b) charges for dental appliances and dental treatment payable in pursuance of section 70(1A)18or section 71(1)19of the Act20or of section 20(1) of the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 199721.
(3) Paragraph (1) applies in the case of travelling expenses necessarily incurred or to be incurred by a person in attending a hospital for the purpose of availing that person of services provided under the care of a hospital consultant in pursuance of the Act, and includes the travelling expenses of a companion in a case where it is necessary on medical grounds for that person to be accompanied.
(4) Paragraph (1) applies in the case of overnight accommodation expenses necessarily incurred in obtaining such accommodation for the purpose of paragraph (3) by a person or a companion whose travelling expenses are payable by virtue of that paragraph.
(5) The travelling expenses, including as applicable overnight accommodation expenses, to be taken into account for the purposes of paragraphs (3) and (4) are to be the costs of travelling by the cheapest means of transport and of overnight accommodation in the cheapest facilities reasonably available.
Description of persons entitled to full remission and payment
4.—(1) Regulation 3(1) applies–
(a)
(a) in the case of the charges in regulation 3(2)(b)–
(i) to any person who, either, at the time the arrangements for the treatment are made or at the time the relevant charges are made, is a person described in paragraph (2); and
(ii) as respects the course of treatment to which the relevant charges relate; and
(b)
(b) in any other case to any person described in paragraph (2) who, at the time when the relevant charges are made or when the relevant travelling expenses are incurred, is a person described in paragraph (2).
(2) The persons described are–
(a)
(a) a person who is in receipt of income support;
(b)
(b) a person whose entitlement to income support is less than 10 pence;
(c)
(c) a member of the same family as a person who is in receipt of income support;
(d)
(d) a member of the same family as a person whose entitlement to income support is less than 10 pence;
(e)
(e) a person whose requirements equal or exceed his income resources and whose capital resources do not exceed the capital limit;
(f)
(f) a member of the same family as a person described in paragraph (e) of this regulation;
(g)
(g) a person who is in receipt of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance;
(h)
(h) a member of the same family as a person who is in receipt of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance;
(i)
(i) a person whose entitlement to an income-based jobseeker’s allowance is less than 10 pence;
(j)
(j) a member of the same family as a person whose entitlement to an income based jobseeker’s allowance is less than 10 pence;
(k)
(k) a person who lives permanently in accommodation provided by a local authority under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 196822and who has satisfied the authority that the person is unable to pay for that accommodation at the standard rate or, as the case may be, the full rate, and for the purposes of this paragraph a person lives permanently in that accommodation if it is the person’s principal place of abode;
(l)
(l) an asylum-seeker for whom support is provided under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999;
(m)
(m) a member of the same family as a person described in paragraph (l) of this regulation; or
(n)
(n) a person who is a member of a family–
(i) one member of which, on the date entitlement is determined, is receiving–
(aa) working tax credit and child tax credit;
(bb) working tax credit which includes a disability element; or
(cc) child tax credit, but is not eligible for working tax credit; and
(ii) where the relevant income of the member or members to whom the tax credit is made under section 14 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 is determined at the time of the award not to exceed £14,200.
Persons entitled to remission in part or payment in part
5.—(1) A person who is not of a description prescribed by regulation 4 and whose capital resources do not exceed the capital limit is entitled, in accordance with the following provisions of these Regulations, to the remission of part of any relevant charges or, as the case may be, payment, in accordance with regulation 6, of part of any relevant travelling expenses if at the time when the relevant charges are made or when the travelling expenses are incurred the person is–
(a)
(a) a person whose income resources exceed the person’s requirements by less than a third of the relevant charges or, as the case may be, by less than the relevant travelling expenses; or
(b)
(b) a member of the same family as a person described in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph.
(2) This regulation applies only in respect of charges for wigs, fabric supports and surgical brassieres payable in pursuance of section 69(1) of the Act (supplied otherwise than under Part II of the Act), charges for dental appliances and dental treatment...
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