PART 5Applicable amounts

Patients

24.—(1) Subject to regulations 80 and 81 and Schedule A1(1) (calculation of weekly amounts, rent free periods and treatment of claims for housing benefit by refugees), where a person has been a patient for a period of more than 52 weeks—

(a)in the case of a single claimant, his applicable amount shall be £20.50;

(b)in the case of a lone parent, his applicable amount shall be £20.50 plus any amount applicable to him under regulation 22(b) or (c) or (d) (applicable amounts) by virtue of his satisfying the condition specified in paragraph 16 of Schedule 3;

(c)in the case of a couple—

(i)where the other member is not a patient, or has not been a patient for more than 52 weeks, his or, if he is not the claimant, the claimant’s applicable amount shall be the amount applicable under regulation 22 (applicable amounts) reduced by £16.40;

(ii)where the other member has also been a patient for more than 52 weeks, his or, as the case may be, the claimant’s applicable amount shall be £41.00 plus any amounts applicable under regulation 22(b) or (c) or (d) by virtue of his satisfying the condition specified in paragraph 16 of Schedule 3;

(d)if he is polygamously married—

(i)where at least one member of the polygamous marriage is not a patient, or has not been a patient for more than 52 weeks, the applicable amount under regulation 23 (polygamous marriages) shall be reduced by £16.40 in respect of each such member who is a patient;

(ii)where all the members of the polygamous marriage have been patients for more than 52 weeks, the applicable amount shall be £20.50 in respect of each member plus any amounts applicable under regulation 23(c) or (d) or (e) by virtue of his satisfying the condition specified in paragraph 16 of Schedule 3.

(2) In paragraph (1), “patient” means a person (other than a person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment or detention in a young offender institution) who is regarded as receiving free in-patient treatment within the meaning of the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations 1975(2).

(3) For the purposes of calculating the period of 52 weeks referred to in paragraph (1), where a person has been maintained free of charge while undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in a hospital or similar institution within the meaning of that paragraph for two or more distinct periods separated by one or more intervals each not exceeding 28 days, he shall be treated as having been so maintained for a period equal in duration to the total of those distinct periods.