The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987

Treatment of charitable or voluntary payments

24.—(1) Subject to paragraph (5), any charitable or voluntary payment, other than one which is or is due to be made at regular intervals or is one to which regulation 44(2) (modifications in respect of children and young persons) applies, made to the claimant on or after the date of claim shall be calculated in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation; and for the purposes of this regulation any such payment made to a member of the claimant’s family or to a person whose income and capital he is treated aspossessing under regulation 23(3) (calculation of income and capital of members of claimant’s family and of a polygamous marriage) shall be treated as a payment made to the claimant and shall be disregarded in calculating the income or capital of that member or that person.

(2) The first £250, whether in aggregate or otherwise, of any such payments made in the period of 52 weeks beginning with the first day of the benefit week in which the first payment is made shall be taken into account under Chapter VI of this Part as capital and to the extent that it is not a payment of capital shall be treated as capital.

(3) Any such payments in the period of 52 weeks in excess of £250 shall be taken into account under Chapter V of this Part as income and to the extent that it is not a payment of income shall be treated as income.

(4) In the case of a claimant who continues to be in receipt of income support at the end of the period of 52 weeks, the foregoing provisions of this regulation shall continue to apply thereafter with the modification that any subsequent period of 52 weeks shall begin with the first day of the benefit week in which the first payment is made after the end of the previous period of 52 weeks.

(5) This regulation shall not apply to a person to whom section 23 of the Act (trade disputes) applies or to a member of his family for so long as that section applies to that person.