Citation, commencement, interpretation and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Disabled Children (Direct Payments) (Wales) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force on 1st July 2001.

(2) In these Regulations “the Act” (“y Ddeddf”) means the Children Act 1989.

(3) These Regulations apply to Wales only.

Persons from whom services may not be secured by means of a direct payment

2.—(1) In the case of a direct payment being made to a person falling within section 17A(2)(a) of the Act, the following persons are of a prescribed description for the purposes of section 17A(3) of the Act—

(a)the spouse of the payee;

(b)a person who lives with the payee as the payee’s spouse;

(c)a person living in the same household as the payee who is the payee's—

(i)parent or parent-in-law;

(ii)son or daughter;

(iii)son-in-law or daughter-in-law;

(iv)stepson or stepdaughter;

(v)brother or sister;

(vi)aunt or uncle; or

(vii)grandparent;

(d)the spouse of any person specified in sub-paragraph (c) who lives in the same household as the payee; and

(e)a person who lives with any person specified in sub-paragraph (c) as that person’s spouse.

(2) In the case of a direct payment being made to a person falling within section 17A(2)(b) of the Act, the following persons are of a prescribed description for the purposes of section 17A(3) of the Act—

(a)the spouse of the payee;

(b)a person who lives with the payee as the payee’s spouse;

(c)a person living in the same household as the payee who is the payee's—

(i)parent or parent-in-law;

(ii)brother or sister;

(iii)aunt or uncle; or

(iv)grandparent;

(d)the spouse of any person specified in sub-paragraph (c) who lives in the same household as the payee; and

(e)a person who lives with any person specified in sub-paragraph (c) as that person’s spouse.

Maximum period of residential accommodation which may be secured by means of a direct payment

3.  The power to make a payment under section 17A(1) of the Act shall not be exercisable in relation to the provision of residential accommodation for any disabled child—

(a)for a period in excess of 28 days; and

(b)in any period of 12 months for periods which exceed 120 days in total.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

The Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 inserts into the Children Act 1989 a new section (section 17A) enabling local authorities to make direct payments to persons with parental responsibility for a disabled child or to a disabled child aged 16 or 17, in lieu of services which would have otherwise been provided for them by the local authority under section 17 of the Children Act.

These regulations specify those persons from whom services may not be secured by means of a direct payment (regulation 2).

These regulations also specify the maximum periods of residential accommodation which may be secured by means of a direct payment (regulation 3).