The Housing Renovation etc. Grants (Reduction of Grant) (Amendment) Regulations 1996

• Citation: S.I. 1996/1331
• Sections: 17

Section 1 Citation and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Renovation etc. Grants (Reduction of Grant) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 17th June 1996.

Section 2 Amendments

The Housing Renovation etc. Grants (Reduction of Grant) Regulations 1994 are amended in accordance with the following regulations.

Section 3 Amendment of regulation 2

In regulation 2(1) (interpretation),—

(a) insert in the appropriate places—

“pension fund holder” means with respect to a personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract, the trustees, managers or scheme administrators, as the case may be, of the scheme or contract concerned;

“retirement annuity contract” means a contract or trust scheme approved under Chapter III of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988;

(b) in the definition of “personal pension scheme”, for“section 191 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992”, substitute “section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993” .

Section 4 Amendment of regulation 5

In regulation 5 (remunerative work),—

(a) in paragraph (2), at the beginning insert “Subject to paragraph (2A),”; and

(b) after paragraph (2), insert—

(2A) Where, for the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), a person’s recognisable cycle of work at a school, other educational establishment or other place of employment is one year and includes periods of school holidays or similar vacations during which he does not work, those periods and any other periods not forming part of such holidays or vacations during which he is not required to work shall be disregarded in establishing the average hours for which he is engaged in work.

Section 5 Amendment of regulation 10

In regulation 10 (reduction in amount of grant)—

(a) in sub-paragraph (1)(a), for “17.23” substitute“17.93”;

(b) in sub-paragraph (1)(b), for “34.46” substitute“35.86”;

(c) in sub-paragraph (1)(c), for “137.84” substitute“143.43”;

(d) in sub-paragraph (1)(d), for “344.61” substitute“358.56”;

(e) in sub-paragraph (2)(a), for “10.34” substitute“10.59”;

(f) in sub-paragraph (2)(b), for “20.69” substitute“21.18”;

(g) in sub-paragraph (2)(c), for “82.76” substitute“84.73”; and

(h) in sub-paragraph (2)(d), for “206.89” substitute“211.83”.

Section 6 Amendment of regulation 16A

In regulation 16A(4) (treatment of child care charges), in the definition of “relevant child care charges”,—

(a) after the word “education”, insert “or charges paid by a relevant person to a partner or by a partner to a relevant person in respect of any child for whom either or any of them is responsible in accordance with regulation 6 (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for another)”;

(b) at the end of sub-paragraph (b), omit “or”; and

(c) at the end of sub-paragraph (c) add—

; or

(d) in schools or establishments which are exempted from registration under section 71 of the Children Act 1989 by virtue of section 71(16) of, and paragraph 3 or 4 of Schedule 9 to, that Act,

Section 7 Amendment of regulation 24

In regulation 24 (determination of net profit of self-employed earners),—

(a) for paragraph (8)(b)(i), substitute—

(i) the excess of any value added tax paid by the relevant person in respect of taxable supplies made to him, over any such tax received by him in respect of taxable supplies made by him, calculated with reference to the assessment period;

(b) from paragraph 11, omit the definition of “retirement annuity contract”.

Section 8 Amendment of regulation 28

In regulation 28 (notional income),—

(a) in paragraph (2), for the words “Except in the case” to“personal injury,”, substitute—

Except in the case of—

(a) a discretionary trust;

(b) a trust derived from a payment made in consequence of a personal injury; or

(b) a personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract where the relevant person is aged under 60,

(b) after paragraph (2), insert—

(2A) Where a person, aged not less than 60, is a member of, or a person deriving entitlement to a pension under, a personal pension scheme, or is a party to, or a person deriving entitlement to a pension under, a retirement annuity contract, and—

(a) in the case of a personal pension scheme, he fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available in that scheme where —

(i) he defers, in whole or in part, the payment of any income which would have been payable to him by his pension fund holder;

(ii) he fails to take any necessary action to secure that the whole of any income which would be payable to him by his pension fund holder upon his applying for it, is so paid; or

(iii) income withdrawal is not available to him under that scheme; or

(b) in the case of a retirement annuity contract, he fails to purchase an annuity with the funds available under that contract,

the amount of any income foregone shall be treated as possessed by him, but only from the date on which it could be expected to be acquired were an application for it to be made.

(2B) The amount of any income foregone in a case to which either paragraph (2A)(a)(i) or (ii) applies shall be the maximum amount of income which may be withdrawn from the fund.

(2C) The amount of any income foregone in a case to which either paragraph (2A)(a)(iii) or sub-paragraph (2A)(b) applies shall be the income that the relevant person could have received without purchasing an annuity had the funds held under the relevant personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract been held under a personal pension scheme where income withdrawal was available.

(c) in paragraph (4),—

(i) for “voluntary body”, substitute “voluntary organisation”; and

(ii) after “reasonable for him”, insert “in any of those cases”.

Section 9 Amendment of regulation 32

In regulation 32(5) (income treated as capital: advance of earnings or loan by employer), insert at the end “except insofar as the advance or loan is spent; and thereupon the advance or loan, so far as it is spent, shall not be treated as income”.

Section 10 Amendment of regulation 35

In regulation 35(2) (notional capital), after sub-paragraph (c), insert

; or

(d) a personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract,

Section 11 Amendment of regulation 36

In regulation 36 (capital jointly held), for the words “to the whole beneficial interest” to the end, substitute—

to an equal share of the whole beneficial interest therein; and the value of that equal share shall be calculated by taking the value of the whole beneficial interest calculated in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, as though—

(a) that interest is solely owned by the relevant person; and

(b) in the case of a dwelling, none of the other joint owners occupies the dwelling concerned,

and dividing the same by the number of persons who have a beneficial interest in the capital in question.

Section 12 Amendment of regulation 38

In regulation 38 (interpretation),—

(a) in the definition of “contribution”, after the second occurrence of “contribution”, insert “(including one which is not paid)”; and

(b) from the definition of “student”, omit “throughout any period of term or vacation within it,”.

Section 13 Amendment of regulation 40

In regulation 40(2) (determination of grant income: payments to meet the costs of books and equipment which is not special equipment),—

(a) delete sub-paragraph (b); and

(b) in sub-paragraph (g)—

(i) delete “(other than special equipment referred to in sub-paragraph (b))”; and

(ii) for “£276”, substitute “£278”.

Section 14 Amendment of Schedule l

In Schedule 1 (applicable amounts),—

(a) for paragraph l substitute—

(1) The amounts specified in column (2) below in respect of each person or couple specified in column (1) shall be the amounts specified for the purposes of regulations 12(a) and 13(a) and (b) —

(b) for paragraph 2 substitute—

(2) The amounts specified in column (2) below in respect of each person specified in column (1) shall be the amounts specified for the purposes of regulations 12(b) and 13(c)—

(c) in paragraph 3 , for “£10.25” substitute“£10.55”;

(d) in paragraph 12(1)(a)(iii) , after “the 1992 Act”, insert “or otherwise abated as a consequence of the relevant person or his partner being a person (other than a person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment or detention in a youth custody institution) who is regarded as receiving free in-patient treatment within the meaning of regulation 2(2) of the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations 1975”;

(e) in paragraph 12(1)(b)(i) , for “is incapable of work”; substitute “is, or is treated as, incapable of work”; and

(f) for Part IV substitute—

AMOUNTS OF PREMIUMS SPECIFIED IN PART III

Section 15 Amendment of Schedule 3

In Schedule 3 (sums to be disregarded in the determination of income other than earnings),—

(a) in paragraph 2(a), for “voluntary body”, substitute“voluntary organisation”;

(b) omit paragraph 12;

(c) for paragraph 14 , substitute—

(14) Subject to paragraph 32, £10 of any of the following, namely —

(a) a war disablement pension (except insofar as such a pension falls to be disregarded under paragraph 7 or 8);

(b) a war widow’s pension;

(c) a pension payable to a person as a widow under the Naval, Military and Air Forces etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983 insofar as that Order is made under the Naval and Marine Pay and Pensions Act 186 or the Pensions and Yeomanry Pay Act 1884 , or is made only under section 12(1) of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1977 and any power of Her Majesty otherwise than under an enactment to make provision about pensions for or in respect of persons who have been disabled or have died in consequence of service as members of the armed forces of the Crown;

(d) a payment made to compensate for the non-payment of such a pension as is mentioned in any of the preceding sub-paragraphs;

(e) a pension paid by the government of a country outside Great Britain which is analogous to any of the pensions mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) above;

(f) a pension paid to victims of National Socialist persecution under any special provision made by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany, or any part of it, or of the Republic of Austria.

(d) in paragraph 51,—

(i) after “1992 Act”, insert “or pension under the Naval, Military and Air Forces etc. (Disablement and Death) Service Pensions Order 1983” ; and

(ii) after “that Act”, insert “or the rate of that pension under that Order”; and

(e) after paragraph 54 , add—

(55) Where the relevant person is entitled to the allowance under regulation 51(1)(bb) of the Disability Working Allowance (General) Regulations 1991 (which applies in respect of a person who works for not less than 30 hours a week), any amount of disability working allowance up to the amount specified in Column (2) against paragraph 2A of Schedule 5 to those Regulations.

(56) Where the relevant person is entitled to the credit under regulation 46(1)(aa) of the Family Credit (General) Regulations 1987 (which applies in respect of a person who works for not less than 30 hours a week), any amount of family credit up to the amount specified in Column (2) against paragraph 1A of Schedule 4 to those Regulations.

Section 16 Amendment of Schedule 4

In Schedule 4 (capital to be disregarded),—

(a) for paragraph 7 substitute—

(7) Any future interest in property of any kind, other than land or premises in respect of which the claimant has granted a subsisting lease or tenancy, including sub-leases or sub-tenancies.

(b) after paragraph 29 insert—

(29A) The value of any funds held under a personal pension scheme or retirement annuity contract.

(c) in paragraph 30, at the end add “except where the relevant person has a reversionary interest in the property in respect of which rent is due.”.

Section 17 Application

These Regulations shall not have effect in relation to applications for grant made before these Regulations come into force.