Section: Housing Benefit & Council Tax

New Regulations

Source: Office of Public Sector Information

The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2006 SI 2378

These Regulations amend a number of different regulations relating to social security, including the following.

Regulation 5(8)(c) amends the Income Support Regulations to change the provisions on transitional protection for housing costs. In determining whether that protection is to be reduced, housing costs for any benefit week are compared to what they were in the immediately preceding benefit week.

Regulations 5, 13, 15 and 17 include amendments to the Income Support Regulations, the Jobseekers Allowance Regulations, the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/213), and the Council Tax Benefit Regulations (S.I. 2006/215):
- To create a disregard for any payment made in consequence of any personal injury to a claimant or his or her partner for a period of up to 52 weeks from the day of receipt of the first payment.
- To enable awards of certain damages to be disregarded where these awards are not administered by the Court but are held subject to the order or direction of the Court. In addition, these Regulations provide that income derived from such capital is no longer to be treated as capital.
- To take account of changes to the linking term for welfare to work beneficiaries in Regulation 12 of these Regulations.
Regulations 14, 16 and 18 include amendments to the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1792), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/214), and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/216):
- To clarify the treatment of certain types of notional income.
- To enable awards of certain damages to be disregarded where these awards are not administered by the Court but are held subject to the order or direction of the Court.
Regulations 16 and 18 include amendments to the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006, to clarify existing Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit provisions on when a change of circumstances takes effect (Regulations 16(3) and 18(3)).
The Social Security (Persons from Abroad) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2006 SI 2528

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1967), the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/207), the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1792), the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/213), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/214), the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/215), and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/216) ("the income-related benefit regulations").

The income-related benefit regulations provide that a claimant is ineligible for benefit where he or she is a "person from abroad" or, in the case of state pension credit, a "person not in Great Britain." A person is a person from abroad or a person not in Great Britain if he or she is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or the Republic of Ireland. No person shall be treated as habitually resident without a relevant right to reside in the place where he or she is habitually resident. However, certain categories of persons are exempt from this habitual residence test.

These Regulations amend an existing category which exempts those with exceptional leave to enter the United Kingdom granted by an immigration officer, or to remain in the United Kingdom granted by the Secretary of State. The amended exemption defines exceptional leave by reference to it being leave to enter or remain granted outside of the rules made under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971. It no longer refers to the person who grants the leave.

These Regulations also insert a new category of persons who are exempt from the habitual residence test, namely those who have humanitarian protection granted under the Immigration Rules. Prior to 9 October 2006, humanitarian protection was a type of exceptional leave to enter or remain granted outside the Immigration Rules. A person granted humanitarian protection was exempt from the habitual residence test because of the exceptional leave exemption previously mentioned. From 9 October 2006, the Immigration Rules are amended so that humanitarian protection is granted under those rules. Those amendments are made in consequence of Council Directive 2004/83/EC (OJ L 304, 30.9.04, p.12).
The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2006 SI 2813

These Regulations amend the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/213), the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/214), the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/215), and the Council Tax Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/216), to grant authorities the power to modify those Regulations to provide that certain payments made under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/439) may be disregarded from the calculation of income for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit purposes.

Case Law Update

The claimant, a private tenant in Sheffield, claimed Housing Benefit in respect of his rent of £745 per month (later reduced to £695 per month). The claim was referred to the Rent Service, which fixed a local reference rent of £433 per month (later increased to £455 per month).

In Judicial Review proceedings, the Judge quashed those determinations, on the grounds that:
- Both had been made using the whole city of Sheffield as the relevant locality.
- The rent officers had based their decisions on Rent Service internal guidance, which had inaccurately summarised and wrongly construed the relevant regulations.
- The likelihood is that all other local reference rent assessments since December 2001 have been based on the same erroneous guidance.
R(Heffernan) v Rent Service [2006] EWHC 2478 (Admin) 10 October 2006

Section: Housing Benefit & Council Tax

New Regulations

Case Law Update

Housing Monthly Diary

Issue: November 2006 Reporting on Sept.-October 2006

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