7.—(1) The Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(1) are amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (5).
(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—
(a)in the definition of “concessionary payment”(2)—
(i)for “Secretary of State with the consent of Treasury” substitute “ Department with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel”, and
(ii)after “charged” insert “ either to the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund or”;
(b)after the definition of “polygamous marriage” insert—
““public authority has the meaning given in section 75(3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998;”; and
(c)after the definition of “self-employed earner” insert—
““service user group” means a group of individuals that is consulted by or on behalf of—
a public authority under section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995,
a council under section 1 of the Local Government (Best Value) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002,
the Patient and Client Council under section 16 of the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009,
a body to which sections 17 to 19 of the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 applies,
the Commission or the Office of the Health Professions Adjudicator in consequence of a function under section 108 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008,
any other public authority in Northern Ireland in consequence of a function conferred under any statutory provision,
for the purposes of monitoring and advising on a policy of that body or authority which affects or may affect persons in the group, or of monitoring or advising on services provided by that body or authority which are used (or may potentially be used) by those persons;.”.
(3) After regulation 33(2)(d) (earnings of employed earners) add—
“(e)any payment in respect of expenses arising out of the claimant’s participation in a service user group.”.
(4) In regulation 39 (notional income)—
(a)in paragraph (8) after “(9)” insert “and (10A)”; and
(b)after paragraph (10) add—
“(10A) Paragraph (8) shall not apply in respect of any amount of income other than earnings, or earnings of an employed earner, arising out of the claimant’s participation in a service user group.”.
(5) In Schedule 6 (amounts to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) in paragraph 1(d)(3)—
(a)for “payment under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 or the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2005” substitute “pension or payment falling within Article 31(1)(a) or (b) of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2005”; and
(b)for “the pension payable under either of those schemes” substitute “that pension or payment”.
S.R. 2006 No. 406; relevant amending Regulation is S.R. 2008 No. 498
The definition of “concessionary payment” was substituted by regulation 6(2)(a) of S.R. 2008 No. 498
Sub-paragraph (d) was amended by regulation 6(6)(a)(ii) of S.R. 2008 No. 498