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United Kingdom Statutory Instruments
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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/legis/num_reg/2004/20040646.html

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2004 No. 646

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2004

  Made 9th March 2004 
  Laid before Parliament 11th March 2004 
  Coming into force 1st April 2004 

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 140B, 140C(1), (1A) and (4), 140F(2) and 189(1) and (4), (5) and (7) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992[1] and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, with the consent of the Treasury[2] and after consultation with organisations appearing to him to be representative of the authorities concerned[3], hereby makes the following Order:

Citation, commencement, interpretation and extent
     1.  - (1) This Order may be cited as the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2004 and comes into force on 1st April 2004.

Amendment of the 1998 Order
     2. The 1998 Order is amended in accordance with the Schedule to this Order.



Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.


Chris Pond
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions

8th March 2004



We consent


John Heppell

Derek Twigg
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury

9th March 2004 [a]



SCHEDULE
Article 2


AMENDMENTS OF THE 1998 ORDER


     1. In article 2 (interpretation of Parts 2 and 4) there is inserted in the appropriate place - 

     2. In article 4 (requirement for claim) - 

     3. In article 6(1) before paragraph (a) there is inserted - 

     4. In article 11(1) in the definition of "rebate" the words "excluding in the case of England and Wales, any Housing Revenue Account rebates" are omitted.

     5. In article 13(1)[5] (the subsidy to be paid to an authority) in the words following sub-paragraph (b) for the words "articles 20 and 21(3)" there are substituted the words "articles 20, 20A and 21(3)".

     6. After article 20 the following article is inserted - 

     7. After Schedule 4 the following Schedule is inserted - 





EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)


This Order is made in consequence of the amendments made by the Local Government Act 2003 extending the provisions in sections 140A to 140G of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 concerning housing benefit subsidy to include subsidy in respect of rent rebates in England and Wales in respect of dwellings within authorities' Housing Revenue Accounts. The Order amends the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998 ("the 1998 Order"), which makes provision about claims for and calculation and payment of subsidy, so as to make provision about subsidy in respect of those rent rebates.

Article 2 introduces the Schedule to the Order which contains detailed amendments of the 1998 Order.

Paragraph 2 of the Schedule amends article 4 of the 1998 Order so as to require that authorities in England make base data returns to the Secretary of State by 31st August in the year before the relevant year (that is, the year in which the rent rebate subsidy in question will be paid) giving information relating to the subsidy, and provide that authorities in Wales may be asked to give such information by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales.

Paragraph 3 of the Schedule amends article 6 of the 1998 Order so as to require that an audited copy of the base data return is sent to the Secretary of State by 10th October in the year before the relevant year.

Paragraph 4 of the Schedule amends the definition of "rebate" in article 11(1) of the 1998 Order so as to remove the words that exclude Housing Revenue Account rebates by local authorities in England and Wales, and so extends all the existing provisions of the 1998 Order that apply to rebates to those rebates.

Paragraph 5 of the Schedule amends article 13(1) of the 1998 Order, which provides for the amount of the subsidy, so that the amount specified there is subject to any deductions applicable under a new article, article 20A, that is inserted by paragraph 6 of the Schedule. Article 20A makes provision for deductions from rent rebate subsidy to be made in accordance with a new Schedule to the Order, Schedule 4A, that is inserted by paragraph 7.

Schedule 4A contains 5 Parts. Part 1 contains provisions about interpretation of expressions used in the Schedule and applies to the whole Schedule. Parts 2 and 3 of the Schedule only apply to local authorities in England and Parts 4 and 5 only apply to authorities in Wales.

Paragraph 2 of Schedule 4A deals with when a deduction may be made from the subsidy payable to authorities in England. It provides that the weekly rent limit for a dwelling for the authority must be less than the subsidy limitation rent. The weekly rent limits for those authorities which have dwellings within their Housing Revenue Accounts are specified for each year in a Table in Part 3 of the Schedule. Paragraph 2 of Schedule 4A explains how the subsidy limitation rent is calculated. Paragraph 3 of Schedule 4A sets out how the amount of the deduction is to be calculated.

In the case of authorities in Wales, paragraph 4 of Schedule 4A sets out a formula for determining if a deduction is to made from the subsidy payable to an authority. A deduction is made if the sum of two amounts that are specified as respects the authority in the Table in Part 5 of Schedule 4A is less than the average amount of rent for a dwelling of the authority. Paragraph 5 of Schedule 4A sets out how the amount of the deduction is to be calculated.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.

Notes:

 [1] 1992 c. 5. Sections 140B, 140C and 140F were inserted by paragraph 4 of Schedule 12 to the Housing Act 1996 (c. 52). Section 140B was amended by section 10 of and paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 (c. 47) and paragraph 36 of Schedule 7 to the Local Government Act 2003 (c. 26). Section 140C(1A) was inserted by paragraph 37 of Schedule 7 to the Local Government Act 2003. Section 189(1) and (4) to (6) was amended by paragraph 109 of Schedule 7 to the Social Security Act 1998 (c. 14); section 189(1) was amended by paragraph 57(2) of Schedule 3 to the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 and Schedule 6 to the Tax Credits Act 2002 (c. 21); section 189(7) was amended by paragraph 24 of Schedule 9 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14) and paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 to the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997.back

[2] See section 189(8) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5), as amended by paragraph 3(5) of Schedule 13 to the Housing Act 1996, paragraph 10 of Schedule 3 to the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 (c. 27), paragraph 57(3) of Schedule 3 to the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 (c. 2) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to the Tax Credits Act 2002 (c. 21).back

[3] See section 176(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992; a relevant amendment is paragraph 3(4) of Schedule 13 to the Housing Act 1996.back

[4] S.I. 1998/562. A relevant amending instrument is the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2003 (S.I. 2003/3179).back

[5] Article 13 was amended by the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2003 (S.I. 2003/3179).back

[6] S.I. 1999/2734. Regulation 9 ceased to have effect on 1st or 7th April 2003 (as the case may be) by virtue of regulation 13 of S.I. 1999/2734, as amended by S.I. 2003/363.back

[a] Amended by Correction Slip. Page 2, the second date of signing should read “9th March 2004” instead of “9th May 2004”. back


ISBN 0 11 048851 2


  © Crown copyright 2004

Prepared 11 March 2004

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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/legis/num_reg/2004/20040646.html