The Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988

• Citation: S.I. 1988/1724
• Sections: 8

Section 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988 and shall come into force on 7th November 1988.

(2) ... In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

“the 2012 Act ” means the Welfare Reform Act 2012;

“ the Act ” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“ the Welfare Reform Act ” means the Welfare Reform Act 2007;

“ the General Regulations ” means the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 ;

“the Met Office” means the Met Office of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ;

...

“ claimant ” means a person who is claiming or has claimed income support , state pension credit , income-based jobseeker's allowance , income-related employment and support allowance or universal credit or who is in receipt of owner-occupier loan payments ;

“cold weather payment” means a payment to meet expenses for heating made out of the social fund under section 138(2) of the Act and these Regulations;

“family” has the meaning given to it in section 137 of the Act and the General Regulations;

“forecast” means a weather forecast produced by the Met Office ... and supplied to the Department for Work and Pensions on a daily basis between 1st November in any year and 31st March in the following year, 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;

“ home ” means the dwelling, together with any garage, garden and outbuildings normally occupied by the claimant as his home, including any premises not so occupied which it is impracticable or unreasonable to sell separately ...;

“income-based jobseeker’s allowance” has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Jobseekers Act 1995 by virtue of section 1(4) of that Act;

“ income-related employment and support allowance ” means an income-related allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act (employment and support allowance);

“income support” means income support under Part 7 of the Act ;

...

“ mean daily temperature ” means, in respect of a day, the average of the maximum temperature and minimum temperature recorded at a site for that day;

“member of the support group” means a person who has or is treated as having limited capability for work-related activity under Part 6 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008;

“member of the work-related activity group” means a person who has or is treated as having limited capability for work under Part 5 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 other than by virtue of regulation 30 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008;

“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;

“owner-occupier loan payments” means loan payments made under the Loans for Mortgage Interest Regulations 2017;

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“postcode district” shall be construed in accordance with the Postcode Address File (within the meaning given by section 116 of the Postal Services Act 2000) except in the case of any postcode district which is identified with an alpha suffix which shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be treated as if it forms part of a postcode district which is identified without that suffix ;

“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;

...

“ state pension credit ” has the meaning given by section 1(1) of the State Pension Credit Act 2002”

“site” means a site accredited by the Met Office in relation to which a period of cold weather may be forecasted or recorded for the purposes of these Regulations;

“universal credit” means universal credit under Part 1 of the 2012 Act ;

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“winter period” means the period beginning on 1st November in any year and ending on 31st March in the following year.

(2A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to a numbered regulation is to the regulation in these Regulations bearing that number and a reference in a regulation to a numbered paragraph or sub-paragraph is to the paragraph or sub-paragraph in that regulation bearing that number.

Section 1A Prescribed description of persons

(1) A cold weather payment may be made in the circumstances prescribed by regulation 2 to a person who satisfies the following conditions.

(2) The first condition is that, in respect of at least one day during the recorded or the forecasted period of cold weather specified in regulation 2(1)(a), the person has been awarded—

(a) state pension credit;

(b) income support;

(c) an income-based jobseeker’s allowance; ...

(d) an income-related employment and support allowance ; ...

(e) universal credit ; or

(f) owner-occupier loan payments and is treated as entitled to a benefit specified in sub-paragraphs (b) to (d).

(g) owner-occupier loan payments and is treated as entitled to state pension credit.

(3) The second condition (which applies only if the person (“P”) falls within paragraph (2)(b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) ) is that, in respect of the day to which paragraph (2) relates—

(a) P’s family includes a member aged less than 5;

(b) where P has been awarded income support, P’s applicable amount includes one or more of the premiums specified in paragraphs 9 to 14 of Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Regulations;

(c) where P has been awarded a jobseeker’s allowance, P’s applicable amount includes one or more of the premiums specified in paragraphs 10 to 16 of Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996;

(d) P’s child tax credit includes a disability element within the meaning of section 9(3) of the Tax Credits Act 2002;

(e) where P has been awarded an employment and support allowance and —

(i) P’s applicable amount includes one or more of the premiums specified in paragraphs 5 to 7 of Schedule 4 to the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008, or

(ii) P is a member of the work-related activity group or is a member of the support group; ...

(f) where P has been awarded universal credit—

(i) the award includes an amount under section 10(2) of the 2012 Act (child or qualifying young person who is disabled); or

(ii) P has limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work-related activity as construed in accordance with regulations 39 and 40 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 ; or

(g) where P has been awarded owner-occupier loan payments, P’s applicable amount, if P were entitled to a benefit specified in paragraph (2)(b) to (d), would include one or more of the premiums specified in—

(aa) where P is treated as entitled to income support, paragraphs 9 to 14 of Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Regulations;

(bb) where P is treated as entitled to jobseeker’s allowance, paragraphs 10 to 16 of Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996;

(cc) where P is treated as entitled to employment and support allowance, paragraphs 5 to 7 of Schedule 4 to the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008.

(3A) In paragraphs (2) and (3) , a person being treated as entitled to a benefit has the meaning given to it in regulation 2(2)(aa) of the Loans for Mortgage Interest Regulations 2017.

(4) The third condition (which does not apply to a person who comes within paragraph (3)(a) or (d)) is that the person does not reside in—

(a) a care home;

(b) an independent hospital;

(c) an establishment run by the Abbeyfield Society or by a body corporate or incorporate which is affiliated to that Society; or

(d) accommodation provided under section 3(1) of, and Part 2 of the Schedule to, the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 (provision by the Secretary of State of accommodation in camps).

(4A) In relation to a person who has been awarded universal credit, the third condition applies as if paragraph (4)(d) were omitted.

(5) In paragraph (4) —

(a) “care home” in England ... has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Care Standards Act 2000, in Wales means a care home service within the meaning of Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 which is provided wholly or mainly to persons aged 18 or over and in Scotland means a care home service as defined by paragraph 2 of schedule 12 to the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 ;

(b) “independent hospital”—

(i) in England, means a hospital as defined by section 275 of the National Health Service Act 2006 that is not a health service hospital as defined by that section;

(ii) in Wales, has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000; and

(iii) in Scotland, means an independent healthcare service as defined in section 10F(1)(a) and (b) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 .

(6) The fourth condition, which applies only where the person has been awarded universal credit and their award of universal credit does not include an amount under section 10(2) of the 2012 Act (child or qualifying young person who is disabled) is that—

(a) in a case where a cold weather payment is payable in relation to a recorded period of cold weather as mentioned in regulation 2(1)(a)(i), the person was not in employment or gainful self-employment on any day during that period; or

(b) in a case where a cold weather payment is payable in relation to a forecasted period of weather as mentioned in regulation 2(1)(a)(ii), the person is not in employment or gainful self-employment on the day when the Met Office supplies the Department for Work and Pensions with the forecast.

(7) For the purpose of paragraph (6)—

(a) “employment” means employment under a contract of service, or in an office, including an elective office;

(b) a person is in gainful self-employment where—

(i) they are carrying on a trade, profession or vocation as their main employment;

(ii) their earnings from that trade, profession or vocation are treated as self-employed earnings for the purpose of regulations made under section 8(3) of the 2012 Act ; and

(iii) the trade, profession or vocation is organised, developed, regular and carried on in expectation of profit.

(8) The fifth condition is that the person’s home is in England or Wales.

Section 2 Prescribed circumstances

(1) The prescribed circumstances in which a cold weather payment may be made are—

(a) subject to paragraphs (1A), (1B) and (3) to (6)—

(i) there is a recorded period of cold weather at a primary site , or

(ii) there is a forecasted period of cold weather at a primary site , and

(b) the home of the claimant is, or by virtue of paragraph (2) ... is treated as, situated in a postcode district in respect of which the site mentioned in sub-paragraph (a)(i) or, as the case may be, (a)(ii) is the designated site .

(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(1A) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a)(i), where a primary site is unable to provide temperature information in respect of a particular day, the mean daily temperature on that day—

(a) at the secondary site , or

(b) where there is no secondary site designated, or where the secondary site is unable to provide temperature information in respect of that day, at the alternative site ,

is to be used to determine whether or not there is a recorded period of cold weather at the primary site .

(1B) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a)(ii), where the Met Office is unable to produce a forecast in respect of a particular period at a primary site , the forecast in respect of that period produced—

(a) at the secondary site , or

(b) where there is no secondary site designated, or where the secondary site is unable to produce a forecast in respect of that period, at the alternative site ,

is to be used to determine whether or not there is a forecasted period of cold weather at the primary site .

(2) For the purposes of this regulation, where the home of the claimant is not situated within a postcode district for which a primary site is designated, it is to be treated as situated within a postcode district—

(a) which, in the opinion of the Met Office, is the most geographically and climatologically representative of that postcode district, and

(b) for which a primary site is designated.

(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 conditions in regulation 1A and paragraph (1) 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 conditions in regulation 1A in respect of the forecasted period of cold weather which is linked to the recorded period of cold weather by an overlap period,

a cold weather payment may be made in respect of that recorded period of cold weather.

(6) A cold weather payment may not be made after the end of the period of 26 weeks beginning with the last day of the winter period in which the period of cold weather concerned falls.

(7) For the purposes of this regulation—

“alternative site ” means a site —

which, in the opinion of the Met Office, is the most geographically and climatologically representative for the postcode district in which the home of the claimant is situated, and

is able to provide temperature information—

for the purposes of paragraph (1A), for the relevant day, or

for the purposes of paragraph (1B), for the production of a forecast for the relevant period;

“primary site ” means a site designated for a postcode district in accordance with regulation 2A(1);

“secondary site ” means a site designated for a postcode district in accordance with regulation 2A(2).

Section 2A Designation of primary and secondary sites

(1) The Secretary of State must designate a primary site for each postcode district.

(2) The Secretary of State may designate a secondary site for each postcode district.

Section 2B Publication of designations

(1) The Secretary of State must publish details of a designation under regulation 2A.

(2) Publication under paragraph (1) may be in such manner as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

Section 2C Review and variation of designations

(1) The Secretary of State must, in accordance with paragraph (2), review a designation under regulation 2A to determine if it remains appropriate.

(2) Each designation must be reviewed every 12 months, in the period beginning with 1st November and ending with 31st October.

(3) If, on review, or at any other time, the Secretary of State is of the opinion that a designation is no longer appropriate, the Secretary of State must—

(a) vary the designation in such manner as the Secretary of State considers expedient, and

(b) publish details of the varied designation.

(4) Publication under paragraph (3)(b) may be in such manner as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(5) When determining whether to vary a designation, the Secretary of State must have regard to any recommendation made by the Met Office.

(6) For the purposes of this regulation, whether a designation is appropriate includes, in particular, whether the site designated—

(a) is geographically and climatologically representative for the relevant postcode district, and

(b) provides accurate temperature information.

Section 3 Prescribed amount

...The amount of the payment in respect of each period of cold weather shall be £25 .

Section 4 Effect and calculation of capital

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