Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 2239

The Social Security Amendment (Bereavement Benefits) Regulations 2000

(The document as of February, 2008)

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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

2000 No. 2239

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Social Security Amendment (Bereavement Benefits) Regulations 2000

	Made	17th August 2000
	Laid before Parliament	24th August 2000
	Coming into force	9th April 2001

The Secretary of State for Social Security, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 123(1)(a), (d) and (e), 124(1)(e), 135(1), 136(5)(b), 137(1) and 175(1), (3) and (4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992[1] and sections 12(4)(b) and 35(1) of the Jobseekers Act 1995[2] and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, after consultation, in respect of provisions in these Regulations relating to housing benefit and council tax benefit, with organisations appearing to him to be representative of the authorities concerned[3] and after agreement by the Social Security Advisory Committee that proposals in respect of these Regulations should not be referred to it[4], hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation
    1. - (1) These Regulations shall be cited as the Social Security Amendment (Bereavement Benefits) Regulations 2000 and shall, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) below, come into force on 9th April 2001.

    (2) Regulation 2(4) of these Regulations shall, in relation to any particular claimant for income support, have effect from the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that claimant on or after 9th April 2001 and in this paragraph, the expressions "benefit week" and "claimant" shall have the same meaning as in regulation 2(1) of the Income Support Regulations[5].

    (3) Regulation 3(3) of these Regulations shall, in relation to any particular claimant for a jobseeker's allowance, have effect from the first day of the first benefit week to commence for that claimant on or after 9th April 2001 and in this paragraph, the expression "benefit week" shall have the same meaning as in regulation 1(3) of the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations[6].

    (4) In these Regulations -

Amendment of the Income Support Regulations
2. - (1) The Income Support Regulations shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) After paragraph 16 in Schedule 1B[11] (prescribed categories of person) there shall be inserted the following paragraph -

Certain persons aged between 55 and 60 whose spouse has died

16A.

(3) In Schedule 2 (applicable amounts) -

Bereavement Premium

8A.

(2) A premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall not be applicable in respect of a claimant who claims income support more than 8 weeks after the last day on which he was entitled to a bereavement allowance.

(3) Where a claimant to whom a premium under sub-paragraph (1) is applicable, ceases to be entitled to income support or to be a single claimant, a premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall only again be applicable to that claimant where he claims income support as a single claimant no more than 8 weeks after the date on which he ceased to be entitled to income support or to an income-based jobseeker's allowance or, as the case may be, to be a single claimant.";

(4) After sub-paragraph (f) of paragraph 16 of Schedule 9[14] (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), there shall be added the following sub-paragraphs -

Amendment of the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations
3. - (1) The Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In Schedule 1 (applicable amounts) -

Bereavement Premium

9A.

(2) A premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall not be applicable in respect of a claimant who claims a jobseeker's allowance more than 8 weeks after the last day on which he was entitled to a bereavement allowance.

(3) Where a claimant to whom a premium under sub-paragraph (1) is applicable, ceases to be entitled to an income-based jobseeker's allowance or to be a single claimant, a premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall only again be applicable to that claimant where he claims a jobseeker's allowance as a single claimant no more than 8 weeks after the date on which he ceased to be entitled to an income-based jobseeker's allowance or to income support or, as the case may be, to be a single claimant.";

(3) After sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph 17 of Schedule 7 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), there shall be added the following sub-paragraph -

Amendment of the Housing Benefit Regulations
4. - (1) The Housing Benefit Regulations shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In Schedule 2 (applicable amounts) -

Bereavement Premium

8A.

    (2) A premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall, except in a case to which sub-paragraph (4) applies, not be applicable in respect of a claimant who claims housing benefit more than 8 weeks after the last day on which he was entitled to a bereavement allowance.

    (3) Where a claimant to whom a premium under sub-paragraph (1) is applicable, ceases to be entitled to housing benefit or to be a single claimant, a premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall only again be applicable to that claimant where he claims housing benefit as a single claimant no more than 8 weeks after the date on which he ceased to be entitled to housing benefit or, as the case may be, to be a single claimant.

    (4) Where a premium under sub-paragraph (1) becomes applicable to a claimant, it shall again be applicable to that claimant where he claims housing benefit as a single claimant at the end of the benefit period in which it first became applicable and at the end of each subsequent benefit period provided, where he ceases to be a single claimant during the course of any benefit period, he does not cease to be a single claimant for more than 8 weeks.

    (5) For the purposes of this paragraph, where the claimant -

for the purpose of establishing entitlement or re-entitlement for housing benefit, he shall be treated as satisfying the equivalent conditions for a bereavement premium under this paragraph.";

(3) In Schedule 4 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) -

14A.

Amendment of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations
5. - (1) The Council Tax Benefit Regulations shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In Schedule 1 (applicable amounts) -

Bereavement Premium

8A.

    (2) A premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall, except in a case to which sub-paragraph (4) applies, not be applicable in respect of a claimant who claims council tax benefit more than 8 weeks after the last day on which he was entitled to a bereavement allowance.

    (3) Where a claimant to whom a premium under sub-paragraph (1) is applicable, ceases to be entitled to council tax benefit or to be a single claimant, a premium under sub-paragraph (1) shall only again be applicable to that claimant where he claims council tax benefit as a single claimant no more than 8 weeks after the date on which he ceased to be entitled to council tax benefit or, as the case may be, to be a single claimant.

    (4) Where a premium under sub-paragraph (1) becomes applicable to a claimant, it shall again be applicable to that claimant where he claims council tax benefit as a single claimant at the end of the benefit period in which it first became applicable and at the end of each subsequent benefit period provided, where he ceases to be a single claimant during the course of any benefit period, he does not cease to be a single claimant for more than 8 weeks.

    (5) For the purposes of this paragraph, where the claimant -

for the purpose of establishing entitlement or re-entitlement for council tax benefit, he shall be treated as satisfying the equivalent conditions for a bereavement premium under this paragraph.";

(3) In Schedule 4 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) -

14A.

Cessation in operation of certain provisions of these Regulations
6.Regulations 2(2) and (3), 3(2), 4(2) and 5(2) of these Regulations shall cease to have effect on 10th April 2006 and the Income Support Regulations, the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations, the Housing Benefit Regulations and the Council Tax Benefit Regulations shall apply thereafter as if the amendments made to them by those regulations had not been made.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Social Security.

Angela Eagle
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security

17th August 2000

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967), the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207), the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1971) and the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/1814).

In particular, they provide that -

- certain persons aged between 55 and 60 whose spouse has died may be entitled to income support (regulation 2(2)); - subject to certain conditions, an additional premium is payable in those benefits to such persons where a person's entitlement to a bereavement allowance has expired, the premium only being payable until 9th April 2006 (regulation 2(3), 3(2), 4(2) and 5(2)); - certain amounts of a widowed mother's allowance and widowed parent's allowance are disregarded for the purpose of ascertaining entitlement to those benefits (regulation 2(4), 3(3), 4(3)(a) and 5(3)(a)).Regulations 4(3)(b) and 5(3)(b) make consequential amendments.

Regulation 6 provides for the provisions of these Regulations (apart from those relating to the disregard of widowed mother's allowance and widowed parent's allowance) to cease to have effect on 10th April 2006. By this date, all those entitled to income support by virtue of the amendment made by regulation 2(2), will be eligible to claim that benefit because they have attained the age of 60 when the premium payable under regulations 2(3), 3(2), 4(2) and 5(2) will be replaced by a pensioner premium of a higher value.

These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.

Notes:

[1] 1992 c. 4; section 123(1)(d) was inserted and section 137 amended, in respect of council tax benefit, by Schedule 9 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14). Section 137(1) is cited because of the meaning ascribed to the word "prescribed".back

[2] 1995 c. 18; section 35(1) is cited because of the meaning ascribed to the words "prescribed" and "regulations".back

[3] See section 176(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5).back

[4] See sections 170 and 173(1)(b) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992; paragraph 67 of Schedule 2 to the Jobseekers Act 1995 added that Act to the list of "relevant enactments" in respect of which regulations must normally be referred to the Committee.back

[5] The definition of "benefit week" was amended by S.I. 1988/1445.back

[6] The definition of "benefit week" was amended by S.I. 1996/1517 and 2538.back

[7] S.I. 1992/1814.back

[8] S.I. 1987/1971.back

[9] S.I. 1987/1967.back

[10] S.I. 1996/207.back

[11] Schedule 1B was inserted by S.I. 1996/206.back

[12] Paragraph 4 was amended by S.I. 1988/1445, 1990/1776 and 1996/1803.back

[13] Section 39B was inserted by section 55(2) of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (c. 30).back

[14] Paragraph 16 was substituted by S.I. 1995/2792.back

[15] Section 39A was inserted by section 55(2) of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (c. 30).back

[16] Paragraph 5 was amended by S.I. 1996/1803.back

[17] Paragraph 4 was amended by S.I. 1990/1775 and 1996/1803.back

[18] Paragraph 4 was amended by S.I. 1996/1803.back

ISBN 0 11 099737 9

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