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Welfare Reform Act 2007

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

Please note:

All reference to 'Parts' and 'sections' are from the Welfare Reform Act 2007. For other versions of these Explanatory Notes, see More Resources.

  1. Introduction

  2. Summary and Background

    1. Employment and Support Allowance

    2. Housing benefit and council tax benefit

    3. Sharing and use of social security information

    4. Overpayment recovery

    5. Benefit fraud: local authority prosecution and investigation powers

    6. Benefit fraud: the “two strikes” rule

    7. Benefits for bereaved persons

    8. Disability living allowance: age conditions

    9. Social Fund

    10. Vaccine Damage Payments: overseas vaccinations

    11. Vaccine Damage Payments: appeals to appeal tribunals in Northern Ireland

    12. Compensation for Pneumoconiosis

    13. Attendance allowance/disability living allowance and care home residents

    14. Independent Living Funds

    15. Medical Examinations

  3. Act Overview

  4. Territorial Extent

  5. Territorial Application: Wales

  6. Commentary on Sections

    1. PART 1: Employment and Support Allowance

      1. Entitlement

        1. Section 1: Employment and support allowance

        2. Section 2: Amount of contributory allowance and; Section 3: Deductions from contributory allowance: supplementary

        3. Section 4: Amount of income-related allowance

        4. Section 5: Advance award of income-related allowance

        5. Section 6: Amount payable where claimants entitled to both forms of allowance

        6. Section 7: Exclusion of payments below prescribed minimum

      2. Assessments relating to entitlement

        1. Section 8: Limited capability for work

        2. Section 9: Limited capability for work-related activity

        3. Section 10: Report

      3. Conditionality

        1. Section 11: Work-focused health-related assessments

        2. Section 12: Work-focused interviews

        3. Section 13: Work-related activity

        4. Section 14: Action plans in connection with work-focused interviews

        5. Section 15: Directions about work related activity

        6. Section 16: Contracting out

      4. Miscellaneous

        1. Section 17: Income and capital: general

        2. Section 18: Disqualification

        3. Section 19: Pilot schemes

        4. Section 20: Relationship with statutory payments

        5. Section 21: Deemed entitlement for other purposes

        6. Section 22: Supplementary Provisions

        7. Section 23: Recovery of sums in respect of maintenance

      5. General

        1. Section 25: Regulations

        2. Section 27: Financial provisions relating to Part 1

        3. Section 28: Consequential amendments relating to Part 1

        4. Section 29: Transition relating to Part 1

    2. PART 2: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

      1. Section 30: Local housing allowance

      2. Section 31: Loss of housing benefit following eviction for anti-social behaviour, etc

      3. Section 32: Housing and Council Tax Benefit for persons taking up employment; Section 33: supplemental; and Section 34: interpretation

      4. Section 35: Information relating to housing benefit

      5. Section 36: Supply of information by rent officers

      6. Section 37: Payment of housing benefit

      7. Section 38: Duty to send inspection reports to the Secretary of State and; Section 39: Directions by Secretary of State

    3. PART 3: Social Security Administration: General

      1. Sharing and use of social security information

        1. Section 41: Social Security Information

        2. Section 42: Information relating to certain benefits

        3. Section 43: Unlawful disclosure of certain information

      2. Overpayment recovery

        1. Section 44: Recovery of overpaid benefit: Great Britain

        2. Section 45: Recovery of overpaid child benefit and guardian’s allowance: Northern Ireland

      3. Benefit fraud

        1. Sections 46 and 47: local authority powers to investigate and prosecute benefit fraud

        2. Section 48: Local authority functions relating to benefit: information

        3. Section 49: Loss of benefit for commission of benefit offences

    4. PART 4: Miscellaneous

      1. Benefits for bereaved persons

        1. Section 50: Widowed mother’s allowance

        2. Section 51: Widowed parent’s allowance

      2. Disability living allowance: age conditions

        1. Section 52: Care component of disability living allowance: persons under the age of 16

        2. Section 53: Mobility component of disability living allowance: persons under the age of 16

      3. Social Fund

        1. Section 54: Matters to which regard must be had in awarding budgeting loans

        2. Section 55: Allocations from the Social Fund

      4. Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979

        1. Section 56: Overseas vaccinations

        2. Section 57: Appeals to appeal tribunal in Northern Ireland

      5. Compensation for pneumoconiosis etc.

        1. Section 58: “Relevant employer”

        2. Section 59: “Dependant”

      6. Other

        1. Section 60: Power to stop payment of allowances to care home residents

        2. Section 61: Independent Living Funds

        3. Section 62: Medical Examinations

      7. General

        1. Section 64: Northern Ireland

        2. Section 67: Repeals

      8. Schedules

        1. Schedule 1 – Employment and support allowance: additional conditions

        2. Schedule 2 – Employment and support allowance: supplementary provision

        3. Schedule 3 – Consequential amendments relating to Part 1

        4. Schedule 4 - Transition relating to Part 1

        5. Schedule 5 – Minor and consequential amendments relating to Part 2

          1. Billing authorities

          2. Administration of housing and council tax benefits

          3. Services benefits

          4. Local housing allowance

          5. Revisions of decisions and appeals

        6. Schedule 6 – Schedule to be inserted in the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979

        7. Schedule 7 – Minor and consequential amendments relating to Part 4

  7. Transposition Notes

  8. Commencement

  9. Hansard References

  • Explanatory Notes Table of contents

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Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.

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