The Health and Personal Social Services (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

The Regulations make further amendments to the Health and Personal Social Services (Assessment of Resources) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993 (“the principal regulations”) which relate to the assessment by Health and Social Services Boards and HSS trusts of the resources of residents in accommodation arranged under Articles 15 and 36 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.

Regulation 2 inserts several new definitions into, and removes one from, the principal regulations.

Regulation 3 allows all periodical payments received by virtue of any agreement or court order to make personal injury payments to the resident, to the extent that they are not payments of income, to be treated as income.

Regulation 4 amends the principal regulations so that the capital limit set out in regulation 20 becomes £19,500. Regulation 5 amends the principal regulations so that the capital limits set out in regulation 28(1) become £12,000 and £19,500.

Regulation 6 changes the reference from invalid care allowance, which no longer exists, to carer’s allowance, which replaces it.

Regulations 7(1) and 7(4) provide that payments of income received from all trusts whose funds derive from personal injury payments to a resident, from an annuity purchased with such funds and those received by virtue of any agreement or court order to make personal injury payments to the resident be disregarded in their entirety when intended and used for any item which was not taken into account when the standard rate was fixed for the accommodation provided. Otherwise £20 of all such income will be disregarded.

Regulation 7(2) amends the principal regulations to correct an error in earlier amending instruments (S.R. 1994 No.160 and S.R. 1995 No. 286), which resulted in two different paragraphs at the end of Part 1 of Schedule 3 bearing the same number. Regulation 9 revokes the erroneous regulations.

Regulations 7(3) and 8(4) provide for certain payments made by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to or on behalf of a resident in respect of the provision to the resident of housing support services to be disregarded as income or capital in the financial assessment. They further provide that the amount of payments made by the resident to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive or service provider for housing support services shall be disregarded as income or capital.

Regulation 7(3) also provides an income disregard for guardian’s allowance and child tax credit.

Regulation 8(1) provides a capital disregard for the value of a dwelling that the resident has ceased to occupy following estrangement or divorce where the dwelling is still occupied as his or her only home by the former partner who is a lone parent.

Regulation 8(2) maintains the pre 14 October 2002 position regarding the treatment of arrears of various social security benefits in the financial assessment of a resident’s capital and removes a reference to a paragraph of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 that has been revoked.

Regulation 8(3) provides a capital disregard for any arrears, or any concessionary payment to compensate for arrears due to the non-payment of tax credits for a period of 52 weeks.