The Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987

Made: 20th November 1987

Coming into force: 11th April 1988

Whereas a draft of this instrument was laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:

Now therefore, the Secretary of State for Social Services, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 165A and 166(2) of the Social Security Act 1975 , section 6(1) of the Child Benefit Act 1975 , sections 21(7), 51(1)(a) to (s), 54(1) and 84(1) of the Social Security Act 1986 and, as regards the revocations set out in Schedule 10 to this instrument, the powers specified in that Schedule, and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, by this instrument which contains only regulations made under the sections of the Social Security Act 1986 specified above and provisions consequential on those sections and which is made before the end of a period of 12 months from the commencement of those sections, makes the following Regulations:–

PART I — GENERAL

Citation, commencement and application

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 and shall come into operation on 11th April 1988.

• (2) In so far as these Regulations apply to—

• (a) an employment and support allowance, they apply to that allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act as it has effect apart from the amendments made by Schedule 3 and Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 that remove references to an income-related allowance;

• (b) a jobseeker's allowance, they apply to that allowance under the Jobseekers Act as it has effect apart from the amendments made by Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 that remove references to an income-based allowance.

• (3) These Regulations do not apply to universal credit (within the meaning of Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012) or personal independence payment (within the meaning of Part 4 of that Act).

Interpretation

2

• (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

• ...

• “the 1992 Act” means the Social Security Administration Act 1992;

• “the 2000 Act” means the Electronic Communications Act 2000;

• “the 2002 Act” means the State Pension Credit Act 2002;

• “the 2013 Regulations” means the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013;

• “the 2018 Scotland Act” means the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018;

• “advance period” means the period specified in regulation 4E(2);

• “appropriate office” means an office of the Department for Work and Pensions and, where any provision in these Regulations relates to a claim, notice or other information, evidence or document being received by or sent, delivered or otherwise furnished in writing to an appropriate office, includes a postal address specified by the Secretary of State for that purpose.

• ...

• “bereavement benefit” means—a bereavement payment referred to in section 36 of the Contributions and Benefits Act as in force immediately before it was repealed by paragraph 8 of Schedule 16 to the Pensions Act 2014;a bereavement allowance referred to in section 39B of the Contributions and Benefits Act as in force immediately before it was repealed by paragraph 13 of Schedule 16 to the Pensions Act 2014; andwidowed parent’s allowance;

• “bereavement support payment” means bereavement support payment under section 30 of the Pensions Act 2014;

• “the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue; and references to “the Board” in these Regulations have effect only with respect to working families' tax credit and disabled person’s tax credit;

• “claim for asylum” has the same meaning as in the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993;

• “claim for benefit” includes–an application for a declaration that an accident was an industrial accident;...an application for a revision under section 9 of the Social Security Act 1998 or a supersession under section 10 of that Act of a decision for the purpose of obtaining any increase of benefit in respect of a child or adult dependant under the Social Security Act 1975 or an increase in disablement benefit under section 60 (special hardship), 61 (constant attendance), 62 (hospital treatment allowance) or 63 (exceptionally severe disablement) of the Social Security Act 1975, but does not include any other application for a revision or a supersession of a decision;

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

• “couple” means—two people who are married to, or civil partners of, each other and are members of the same household; ortwo people who are not married to, or civil partners of, each other but are living together as if they were a married couple or civil partners;

• “Crown servant posted overseas” means a person performing the duties of any office or employment under the Crown in right of the United Kingdom who is, or was prior to his posting, ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom;

• “disabled person’s tax credit” and “working families' tax credit” shall be construed in accordance with section 1(1) of the Tax Credits Act 1999;.

• “electronic communication” has the same meaning as in section 15(1) of the 2000 Act;

• “the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations” means the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008;

• “guarantee credit” is to be construed in accordance with sections 1 and 2 of the 2002 Act;

• ...

• “the Jobseekers Act” means the Jobseekers Act 1995;

• ...;

• “the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations” means the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996;

• “joint-claim couple” and “joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance” have the same meaning in these Regulations as they have in the Jobseekers Act by virtue of section 1(4) of that Act;

• “limited capability for work” has the same meaning as in section 1(4) of the Welfare Reform Act

• “long-term benefits” means any retirement pension, a shared additional pension, a widowed mother's allowance, a widow's pension, widowed parent’s allowance, ... attendance allowance, disability living allowance, carer’s allowance, ... any pension or allowance for industrial injury or disease and any increase in any such benefit;

• ...

• “partner” means one of a couple;

• “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;

• ...

• “personal pension scheme” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 in respect of employed earners and in the case of self-employed earners, includes a scheme approved by the Board of Inland Revenue under Chapter IV of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988;

• “qualifying age” has the same meaning as in the 2002 Act by virtue of section 1(6) of that Act;

• “refugee” means a person recorded by the Secretary of State as a refugee within the definition in Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28th July 1951 as extended by Article 1(2) of the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on 31st January 1967;

• “relevant authority” means a person within section 72(2) of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999;

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

• “shared additional pension” means a shared additional pension under section 55A or 55AA of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “social fund funeral payment” means a funeral payment within the meaning of regulation 7(1) of the Social Fund Maternity and Funeral Expenses (General) Regulations 2005, including social fund payments made under The Social Fund (Children’s Funeral Fund for England) Regulations 2019;

• “state pension credit” means state pension credit under the 2002 Act;

• “State Pension Credit Regulations” means the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002;

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

• ...

• “week” means a period of 7 days beginning with midnight between Saturday and Sunday.

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

• “widowed parent’s allowance” means an allowance referred to in section 39A of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “working age benefit” means any of the following—...an employment and support allowance;incapacity benefit;income support;a jobseeker’s allowance;widowed mother’s allowance;widowed parent’s allowance;widow’s pension.

• (2) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to–

• (a) a numbered regulation, Part or Schedule is a reference to the regulation, Part or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations and any reference in a regulation to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph of that regulation having that number;

• (b) a benefit includes any benefit under the Social Security Act 1975 , child benefit under Part I of the Child Benefit Act 1975 , income support, state pension credit,working families' tax credit and disabled persons' tax credit under the Social Security Act 1986 and any social fund payments such as are mentioned in section 32(2)(a) and section 32(2A) of that Act, state pension under Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2014 and a jobseeker’s allowance under Part I of the Jobseekers Act, a shared additional pension, bereavement support payment or an employment and support allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act.

• (2A) References in regulations 20, 21 (except paragraphs (3) and (3A)), 29, 30, 32 to 34, 37 (except paragraph (1A)), 37A, 37AA (except paragraph (3)), 37AB, 37B, 38 and 47 to “benefit”, “income support” or “a jobseeker’s allowance”, include a reference to a back to work bonus which, by virtue of regulation 25 of the Social Security (Back to Work Bonus) Regulations 1996, is to be treated as payable as income support or, as the case may be, as a jobseeker’s allowance.

• (3) For the purposes of the provisions of these Regulations relating to the making of claims every increase of benefit under the Social Security Act 1975 shall be treated as a separate benefit ....

• (4) In these Regulations, references to “beneficiary” include any person entitled to state pension credit.

PART II — CLAIMS

Claims not required for entitlement to benefit in certain cases

3

• (1) It shall not be a condition of entitlement to benefit that a claim be made for it in the following cases:–

• (za) in the case of a Category A or B retirement pension, where the beneficiary is a person to whom regulation 3A applies;

• (a) in the case of a Category C retirement pension where the beneficiary is in receipt of–

• (i) another retirement pension under the Social Security Act 1975; or

• (ii) widow's benefit under Chapter 1 of Part II of that Act; or

• (iii) benefit by virtue of section 39(4) of that Act corresponding to a widow's pension or a widowed mother's allowance; or

• (iv) widowed parent’s allowance;

• (b) in the case of a Category D retirement pension where the beneficiary–

• (i) was ordinarily resident in Great Britain on the day on which he attained 80 years of age; and

• (ii) is in receipt of another retirement pension under the Social Security Act 1975;

• (c) age addition in any case;

• (ca) in the case of a Category A retirement pension where the beneficiary—

• (i) is entitled to any category of retirement pension other than a Category A retirement pension; and

• (ii) becomes divorced or the beneficiary’s civil partnership is dissolved;

• (cb) in the case of a Category B retirement pension where the beneficiary is entitled to either a Category A retirement pension or to a graduated retirement benefit or to both and

• (i) the spouse or civil partner of the beneficiary becomes entitled to a Category A retirement pension or a state pension under section 4 of the Pensions Act 2014; or

• (ii) the beneficiary marries or enters into a civil partnership with a person who is entitled to a Category A retirement pension or a state pension under section 4 of the Pensions Act 2014; or

• (iii) the spouse or civil partner of the beneficiary dies having been entitled to a Category A retirement pension or a state pension under section 4 of the Pensions Act 2014 at the date of death;

• (d) in the case of a Category A or B retirement pension or a state pension under Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2014–

• (i) where the beneficiary is a woman who has reached pensionable age and is entitled to a widowed mother's allowance ..., on her ceasing to be so entitled; ...

• (ii) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (da) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (e) in the case of retirement allowance.

• (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (g) in the case of a jobseeker’s allowance where–

• (i) payment of benefit has been suspended in the circumstance prescribed in regulation 16(2) of the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999; and

• (ii) the claimant whose benefit has been suspended satisfies the conditions of entitlement (apart from the requirement to claim) to that benefit immediately before the suspension ends;

• (h) in the case of income support where the beneficiary—

• (i) is a person to whom regulation ... 6(5) of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (persons not treated as engaged in remunerative work) applies;

• (ii) was in receipt of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance or an income-related employment and support allowance on the day before the day on which he was first engaged in the work referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of those paragraphs; and

• (iii) would satisfy the conditions of entitlement to income support (apart from the condition of making a claim which would apply in the absence of this paragraph) only by virtue of ... regulation 6(6) of those Regulations.

• (i) in the case of a shared additional pension where the beneficiary is in receipt of a retirement pension of any category.

• (j) in the case of an employment and support allowance where—

• (i) the beneficiary has made and is pursuing an appeal against a relevant decision of the Secretary of State, and

• (ii) that appeal relates to a decision to terminate or not to award a benefit for which a claim was made.

• (ja) in the case of a state pension under any section of Part 1 of the Pensions Act 2014 where the beneficiary is entitled to—

• (i) a state pension under a different section of Part 1 of that Act; or

• (ii) another state pension under the same section of Part 1 of that Act.

• (2) In this regulation—

• “appellate authority” means the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal, the Court of Session, or the Supreme Court; and

• “relevant decision” means—a decision that embodies the first determination by the Secretary of State that the claimant does not have limited capability for work; ora decision that embodies the first determination by the Secretary of State that the claimant does not have limited capability for work since a previous determination by the Secretary of State or appellate authority that the claimant does have limited capability for work.

Notification that claim not required for entitlement to a Category A or B retirement pension

3A

• (1) Subject to paragraph (4), this regulation applies to a beneficiary who has received, on or before the day provided for in paragraph (2), a written notification from the Secretary of State that no claim is required for a Category A or B retirement pension.

• (2) The day referred to in paragraph (1) is—

• (a) the day which falls 2 weeks before the day on which the beneficiary reaches pensionable age; or

• (b) such later day as the Secretary of State may consider reasonable in any particular case or class of case.

• (3) The Secretary of State may give a notification under paragraph (1) only in a case where, on the day which falls 8 weeks before the day on which the beneficiary reaches pensionable age, the beneficiary—

• (a) is in receipt of an exempt benefit, or would be in receipt of it but for that benefit not being payable as a result of the application of any of the legislation listed in paragraph (7); and

• (b) is neither entitled to, nor awaiting the determination of a claim for, a non-exempt benefit.

• (4) Receipt of a written notification under paragraph (1) does not affect the requirement that a beneficiary who—

• (a) before reaching pensionable age, informs the Secretary of State that they want their entitlement to a Category A or B retirement pension to be deferred in accordance with section 55(3)(a) of the Contributions and Benefits Act; or

• (b) after reaching pensionable age, elects to be treated as not having become entitled to either a Category A or B retirement pension in accordance with regulation 2 of the Social Security (Widow’s Benefit and Retirement Pensions) Regulations 1979,

must make a claim in order subsequently to be entitled to a Category A or B retirement pension.

• (5) For the purposes of paragraph (3)(a), a beneficiary who is in receipt of an exempt benefit includes a beneficiary who—

• (a) has been awarded such a benefit on or before the day which falls 8 weeks before the day on which the beneficiary reaches pensionable age; and

• (b) has not yet received the first payment of that benefit.

• (6) For the purposes of this regulation—

• “exempt benefit” means any of the following—an employment and support allowance;income support;a jobseeker’s allowance;long-term incapacity benefit;state pension credit; and