The Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations —

“the Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

“the Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(1);

“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(2);

“absent parent” means a parent of a child who has died where—

“child” means a person under the age of 16 or a young person within the meaning of regulation 14 of the Income Support Regulations(3) or, as the case may be, of regulation 76 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations(4);

“child tax credit” means a child tax credit under section 8 of the Tax Credits Act 2002(5);

“claimant” means a person claiming a social fund payment in respect of maternity or funeral expenses;

“close relative” means a parent, parent-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, step-parent, step-son, step-son-in-law, step-daughter, step-daughter-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, sister or sister-in-law;

“confinement” means labour resulting in the issue of a living child, or labour after 24 weeks of pregnancy resulting in the issue of a child whether alive or dead;

“couple” means—

“family” means—

“family element” means—

“funeral” means a burial or a cremation;

“funeral payment” has the meaning given in regulation 7(1)(a);

“health professional” means—

“immediate family member” means a parent, son or daughter;

“income-based jobseeker’s allowance” has the same meaning as it has in the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 by virtue of Article 2(2) of that Order(8);

“occupational pension scheme” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993(9);

“partner” means where a person—

“person affected by a trade dispute” means a person—

“prescribed time for claiming” means the appropriate period during which a Sure Start Maternity Grant or, as the case may be, a funeral payment, may be claimed pursuant to regulation 19(1) of, and Schedule 4 to, the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(11);

“responsible person” has the same meaning given in regulation 7(1)(b);

“still-born child” has the same meaning as the definition of “still-birth” in the Births and Deaths Registration (Northern Ireland) Order 1976(12);

“Sure Start Maternity Grant” is to be construed in accordance with regulation 5;

“working tax credit” means a working tax credit under section 10 of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

(2) For the purposes of Part III of these Regulations, persons shall be treated as members of the same household where—

(a)they are married to each other, or in a civil partnership with each other, and are living in the same care establishment; or

(b)they were partners immediately before at least one of them moved permanently into such an establishment,

and at least one of them is resident in a care establishment as at the date of death of the person in respect of whom a funeral payment is claimed.

(3) In paragraph (2), “care establishment” means—

(a)a residential care home;

(b)a nursing home;

(c)an Abbeyfield Home; or

(d)an independent hospital,

as defined in regulation 2(1)(13) of the Income Support Regulations.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a)persons are to be treated as not being members of the same household in the circumstances set out in regulation 16(2) and (3)(a), (b) and (d) of the Income Support Regulations(14) or, as the case may be, in regulation 78(2) and (3)(a) to (c) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations(15);

(b)a person shall be treated as a member of a polygamous marriage where, during the subsistence of that marriage, a party to it is married to more than one person and the ceremony of marriage took place under the law of a country which permits polygamy.

(5) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(16) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.