Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Medical Evidence) Amendment Regulations 1987 and shall come into force on 6th April 1987.

(2) In these Regulations, “the Medical Evidence Regulations” means the Social Security (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1976(3).

Registered midwife

2.  In regulation 1(2) of the Medical Evidence Regulations for the definition of “certified midwife” there shall be substituted the following definition—

““registered midwife” means a midwife who is registered as a midwife with the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting under the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979(4);”.

Maternity certificate

3.  In regulation 2(3) of the Medical Evidence Regulations, for the words “by means of a certificate” there shall be substituted the words “by means of a maternity certificate” and for the words “certified midwife” there shall be substituted the words “registered midwife”.

Substitution of Schedule 2

4.  For Schedule 2 to the Medical Evidence Regulations there shall be substituted the following Schedule—

“SCHEDULE 2

PART Irules

1.  In these rules any reference to a woman is a reference to the woman in respect of whom a maternity certificate is given in accordance with these rules.

2.  A maternity certificate shall be given by a doctor or registered midwife attending the woman and shall not be given by the woman herself.

3.  The maternity certificate shall be on a form provided by the Secretary of State for the purpose and the wording shall be that set out in the appropriate part of the form specified in Part II of this Schedule.

4.  Every maternity certificate shall be completed in ink or other indelible substance and shall contain the following particulars—

(a)the woman’s name;

(b)the week in which the woman is expected to be confined or, if the maternity certificate is given after confinement, the date of that confinement and the date the confinement was expected to take place where this is later than the actual confinement;

(c)the date of the examination on which the maternity certificate is based;

(d)the date on which the maternity certificate is signed; and

(e)the address of the doctor or where the maternity certificate is signed by a midwife either her registered number or address,

and shall bear opposite the word “Signature”, the signature of the person giving the maternity certificate written after there has been entered on the maternity certificate the woman’s name and the expected date or, as the case may be, the date of the confinement.

5.  After a maternity certificate has been given, no further maternity certificate based on the same examination shall be furnished other than a maternity certificate by way of replacement of an original which has been lost or mislaid, in which case it shall be clearly marked “duplicate”.

PART IIFORM OF CERTIFICATE

MATERNITY CERTIFICATE

”

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations substitute new provisions in the Social Security (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1976 (“the Medical Evidence Regulations”).

Regulation 2 substitutes a definition of “registered midwife” for “certified midwife” in the Medical Evidence Regulations.

Regulation 3 replaces the reference to a certificate in regulation 2(3) of the Medical Evidence Regulations with a reference to a maternity certificate.

Regulation 4 prescribes the form on which evidence of pregnancy and the expected date of confinement is to be provided by a woman who claims maternity allowance under section 22 of the Social Security Act 1975.