Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and shall come into operation on 6th October 2003.

(2) In these Regulations –

“the principal Regulations” means the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(3).

Amendment of regulation 2 of the principal Regulations

2.  In regulation 2 of the principal Regulations (interpretation) –

(a)after the definition of “partner” insert “pension credit guarantee credit” means pension credit-guarantee credit under 1(3)(a) of the State Pension Credit Act (Northern Ireland) 2002(4).

Amendment of regulation 4 of the principal Regulations

3.  At the end of regulation 4(2) (description of persons entitled to full remission and payment) add –

“or

(p)a person who is in receipt of the pension credit guarantee credit;

(q)a member of the same family as a person who is in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit.”.

Amendment of Schedule 1 of the principal Regulations

4.  In paragraph 2, after sub-paragraph (d) add –

“(e)as if the State Pension Credit (Consequential, Transitional and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003(5) had not been made.”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulation.)

These Regulations further amend the Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 (“the principal Regulations”), which provide for remission and payment of certain charges which would otherwise be payable under the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 and for the payment by the Department of travelling expenses incurred in attending a hospital.

Regulations 2 and 3 extends the description of persons entitled to full remission and payment of relevant charges or relevant travelling expenses to persons in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit and members of their families.

Regulation 4 is a technical amendment to facilitate the calculation of claims under the Low Income Scheme following the introduction of Pension Credit.