Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Amendment No. 2 Regulations 1991 and shall come into force on 1st November 1991.

(2) In these Regulations "the Cold Weather Payments Regulations" means the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988(4).

Amendment of regulation 1 of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations

2. In regulation 1(2) of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations (citation, commencement and interpretation)(5)-

(a)for the definition of "claimant" there shall be substituted the following definition-

""claimant" means a person who is claiming or has claimed income support;";

(b)after the definition of "family" there shall be inserted the following definitions-

""forecast" means a weather forecast produced by the Meteorological Office of the Ministry of Defence and supplied to the Department of Social Security on a daily basis which provides the expected average mean daily temperature for a period of 7 consecutive days;

"forecasted period of cold weather" means a period of 7 consecutive days, during which the average of the mean daily temperature for that period is forecasted to be equal to or below 0 degrees celsius; and for the purposes of this definition where a day forms part of a forecasted period of cold weather it shall not form part of any other such forecasted period;";

(c)after the definition of "mean daily temperature" there shall be inserted the following definition-

""overlap period" means any period of a day or days, where a day forms part of a recorded period of cold weather and also forms part of a forecasted period of cold weather;";

(d)the definition of "period of cold weather" shall be omitted;

(e)after the definition of "polygamous marriage" there shall be inserted the following definitions-

• ""Post Office postcode area" has the meaning given to it in Schedule 2 to these Regulations;

• "recorded period of cold weather" means a period of 7 consecutive days, during which the average of the mean daily temperature recorded for that period was equal to or below 0 degrees celsius; and for the purposes of this definition where a day forms part of a recorded period of cold weather it shall not form part of any other such recorded period;

• "sector" means the area identified by the number which commences the second part of a Post Office postcode;".

Substitution of regulation 2 of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations

3. For regulation2 of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations (prescribed circumstances)(6) there shall be substituted the following Regulation-

"Prescribed circumstances

2.-(1) The prescribed circumstances in which a payment may be made out of the social fund to meet expenses for heating under section32(2A) of the Act are-

(a)subject to paragraphs (3), (4) and (5)-

(i)there is a recorded period of cold weather at a station described in column (1) of Schedule1 to these Regulations or, if that station is unable to provide temperature information for the period in question, the nearest such station to that station able to provide temperature information for that period; or

(ii)there is a forecasted period of cold weather at a station described in column (1) of Schedule1 to these Regulations; and

(b)the home of the claimant is, or by virtue of paragraph(2)(b) is treated as, situated in a Post Office postcode area in respect of which the first mentioned station in sub-paragraph(a)(i) or the station mentioned in sub-paragraph(a)(ii) of this paragraph, as the case may be, is the designated station; and

(c)the claimant has been awarded income support in respect of at least one day during the recorded or the forecasted period of cold weather and either-

(i)the claimant's applicable amount includes one or more of the premiums specified in paragraphs9 to 14 of PartIII of Schedule2 to the General Regulations; or

(ii)a member of the claimant's family is aged less than 5.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation-

(a)the station described in column(1) of Schedule1 to these Regulations is the designated station for the Post Office postcode areas described in the corresponding paragraph in column(2) of that Schedule;

(b)where the home of the claimant is not situated within a Post Office postcode area described in column(2) of that Schedule, it shall be treated as situated within the Post Office postcode area nearest to it described in that column.

(3) Subject to paragraphs(4) and (5) where a recorded period of cold weather is joined by an overlap period to a forecasted period of cold weather a payment under paragraph (1) may only be made in respect of the forecasted period of cold weather

(4) Where-

(a)there is a continuous period of forecasted periods of cold weather and recorded periods of cold weather, each of which is linked by an overlap period; and

(b)the total number of recorded periods of cold weather during that continuous period is greater than the total number of forecasted periods of cold weather,

a payment in respect of the last recorded period of cold weather may also be made under paragraph(1).

(5) Where-

(a)a claimant satisfies the prescribed circumstances for a payment under paragraph(1) above in respect of a recorded period of cold weather; and

(b)a payment in respect of the recorded period of cold weather does not fall to be made by virtue of paragraph(4); and

(c)the claimant does not satisfy the prescribed circumstances in paragraph(1)(c) above in respect of the forecasted period of cold weather which is linked to the recorded period of cold weather by an overlap period,

a payment in respect of that recorded period of cold weather may also be made under paragraph(1).".

Amendment of regulation 3 of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations

4. In regulation 3 of the cold weather payments Regulations (prescribed amount)(7) the words "Subject to regulation 4," shall be omitted.

Deletion of regulation 4 of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations

5. Regulation 4 of the Cold Weather Payments Regulations (effect and calculation of capital)(8) shall be deleted.

Substitution of the Schedule to the Cold Weather Payments Regulations

6. For the Schedule to the Cold Weather Payments Regulations(9) there shall be substituted the Schedules set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.

Regulation 6

SCHEDULETO BE SUBSTITUTED FOR THE SCHEDULE TO THE COLD WEATHER PAYMENTS REGULATIONS

Regulation 2

"SCHEDULE 1

Regulation 1(2)

SCHEDULE 2DEFINITION OF POST OFFICE POSTCODE AREA

1.-(1) In these Regulations, "Post Office postcode area" means, except in the cases where sub-paragraphs (2) and (3) apply, that part of Great Britain which is described in the Postcode Atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland(10) as being the part identified by the postcode in question.

(2) This sub-paragraph applies to those parts of Great Britain which are described in the relevant postcode maps for that part(11) referred to in Table 1 below and are identified by the postcode in question-

(3) This sub-paragraph applies to those parts of Great Britain which are described in the relevant postcode maps for that part referred to in Table 2 below and are identified by the postcode in question(13)-

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988 in the following respects-

(a)they amend the definition of period of cold weather to include a period where the weather forecast is for the temperature to fall to 0 ° celsius or below for the next seven days (regulations 2 and 3);

(b)they remove the calculation of capital limits for the purposes of cold weather payments (regulation 5).

(c)they insert 2 new Schedules in the Regulations identifying areas linked to national climatological message stations by way of Post Office postcodes (regulation 6 and Schedules 1 and 2).

The Postcode Atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the postcode maps may be obtained from their publishers.

A person may establish the postcode for their address by contacting any post office.