The Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2019

Made: 5th September 2019

Laid before Parliament: 10th September 2019

Coming into force: 31st October 2019

In accordance with section 176(1) of that Act[^f00003], the Secretary of State has consulted with organisations appearing to the Secretary of State to be representative of the authorities concerned.

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Amendment Order 2019 and comes into force on 31st October 2019.

• (2) Article 3(1) and Schedule 1 have effect for the purpose of determining subsidy payable for the relevant year beginning with 1st April 2018.

• (3) Articles 3(2) and 4 and Schedules 2, 3 and 4 have effect for the purpose of determining subsidy payable for the relevant year beginning with 1st April 2019.

• (4) In this Order—

• “the 1998 Order” means the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998[^f00004];

• “relevant year” means the period of a year beginning with 1st April in the calendar year in respect of which a claim for subsidy is made.

Amendment of the 1998 Order

2

The 1998 Order is amended in accordance with articles 3 and 4.

The amount of an authority’s subsidy

3

• (1) For Schedule 1 (sums to be used in the calculation of subsidy) substitute the Schedule 1 set out in Schedule 1 to this Order.

• (2) For Schedule 1ZB (additional amount of subsidy: Verify Earnings and Pension Alerts Service substitute the Schedule 1ZB set out in Schedule 2 to this Order.

Rent rebate deductions from an authority’s subsidy

4

• (1) Schedule 4A (rent rebate limitation deductions (housing revenue account dwellings)) is amended as follows.

• (2) In Part 2 (England), in paragraph 3 (amount of deduction), for sub-paragraph (3) substitute—

(3) The rebate proportion for 2019-20 is 0.726.

• (3) For Part 3 (weekly rent limits for purposes of Part 2: authorities in England), substitute the Part 3 set out in Schedule 3 to this Order.

• (4) For Part 5 (amounts for purposes of Part 4, paragraph 4: authorities in Wales), substitute the Part 5 set out in Schedule 4 to this Order.

SCHEDULE 1 — Substitution of Schedule 1 to the 1998 Order

SCHEDULE 2 — Substitution of Schedule 1ZB to 1998 Order

SCHEDULE 3 — Substitution of Part 3 of Schedule 4A to the 1998 Order

SCHEDULE 4 — Substitution of Part 5 of Schedule 4A to the 1998 Order

Signed

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

Will Quince — Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State — Department for Work and Pensions — 4th September 2019

We consent.

Michelle Donelan — Rebecca Harris — Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury — 5th September 2019

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order amends the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998 (S.I. 1998/562) (“the 1998 Order”) which provides for the calculation and payment of housing benefit subsidy to local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland which administer housing benefit. Section 140F(2) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c.5) authorises the making, revocation or varying of an Order before, during or after the year to which it relates.

Article 3 (1) and Schedule 1 substitute Schedule 1 to the 1998 Order which prescribes the sums to be used in the calculation of subsidy for the year beginning with1st April 2018.

Article 3 (2) and Schedule 2 substitute Schedule 1ZB to the 1998 Order which has effect for the purposes of determining additional amounts of subsidy payable for the year beginning with 1st April 2019. This Schedule prescribes a system for the making of additional payments of subsidy to authorities administering alerts relating to the earnings and pension entitlement of claimants for housing benefit (“the VEP Alert Service”), as notified by the Secretary of State to local authorities on 3rd May 2019. In the VEP Alert Service, authorities are given funding to carry out activities to enable them to verify earnings and pension information based on their use of real time information.

Article 4 has effect for the purposes of determining subsidy payable for the year beginning with 1st April 2019. Paragraph (2) amends paragraph 3 of Schedule 4A to the 1998 Order to provide that the rebate proportion figure for 2019/2020 is 0.726. Paragraph (3) and Schedule 3 substitute Part 3 of Schedule 4A to the 1998 Order in respect of weekly rent limits for authorities in England. With respect to authorities in Wales, paragraph (4) and Schedule 4 substitute Part 5 of Schedule 4A to the 1998 Order which sets out the specified amount “O” and the guideline rent increase “P” used when calculating deductions from subsidy under paragraph 4 in Part 4 of Schedule 4A.

Hard copies of the circular referenced in this Order are available from the Department for Work and Pensions, Local Authority Funding Team, Housing Delivery Division, Room B120D, Warbreck House, Warbreck Hill, Blackpool, FY2 0YE.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the private sector or civil society organisations.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1992 c.5. Sections 140B and 140F were inserted by paragraph 4 of Schedule 12 to the Housing Act 1996 (c.52). Section 140B(1) was amended by paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 to the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 (c.47) (“the Fraud Act”) . Section 140B(4) was substituted and section 140(4A) was inserted by section 10 of the Fraud Act. There are amendments to section 189(4) and (6) which are not relevant to this Order. Section 189(7) was amended by paragraph 24 of Schedule 9 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c.14) (“the 1992 Act”) and by paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 to the Fraud Act. Sections 140B, 140F and 189 were repealed, to the extent they relate to council tax benefit, by Schedule 14 to, the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (c.5) with effect from 1st April 2013 and subject to savings and transitional provisions in articles 9 and 10 of S.I. 2013/358.

[^f00002]: Relevant amendment made by paragraph 3(5) of Schedule 13 to the Housing Act 1996.

[^f00003]: Section 176(1) was amended by paragraph 23 of Schedule 9 to the 1992 Act, paragraph 3(4) of Schedule 13 to, the Housing Act 1996 and section 69(6) of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c.19). It was repealed, to the extent it relates to council tax benefit, by section 147 of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 14 to, the Welfare Reform Act 2012 with effect from 1st April 2013 and subject to savings and transitional provisions in articles 9 and 10 of S.I. 2013/358.

[^f00004]: S.I. 1998/562; relevant amending instruments are S.I. 2004/646 and 2018/985.