HC Deb 01 July 1987 vol 118 cc118-9W
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he proposes to lay regulations for the 1988 income support scheme.

Mr. Scott

The regulations to implement the income support scheme next April will be laid before Parliament when final decisions have been taken on the benefit rates in the autumn.

I am today placing in the Library copies of two sets of draft regulations; the Income Support (General) Regulations, and the Income Support (Transitional) Regulations. These set out the rules the Government intend will operate from next April. They are being made available in draft to assist preparations for the implementation of income support.

The draft Income Support (General) Regulations set out the intended rules on conditions of entitlement, treatment of resources and the structure of applicable amounts of benefit payable to particular groups of claimants. They replace four complete sets of regulations and parts of others in the current supplementary benefit scheme. The rates of benefit included in the draft regulations are illustrative only. They are mainly those used in the technical annex to the White paper "Reform of Social Security" (Cmnd. 9691) published in December 1985. The illustrative rates do not take account of the Government's decision to compensate claimants for the average value of the minimum contribution to domestic rates they will be expected to meet from April 1988. This will be included in the final rates.

Consistent with the objective of a common approach to the income-related benefits, many of the provisions mirror those in the draft Housing Benefit Regulations issued to local authorities in May and also placed in the Library. Discussions have continued with the disability organisations on detailed aspects of the treatment of disabled people.

The draft Income Support (Transitional) Regulations provide for the changeover to the new scheme. As well as a number of mainly technical administrative matters, they provide transitional protection for claimants continuing to satisfy the conditions of entitlement who would otherwise face a reduction in support at the time of change. Normally, this will be based on a comparison between their benefit income in the week before the change (enhanced for householders by the average value of the domestic rates contribution) and their benefit entitlement after the change. Claimants without a permanent address will transfer immediately to the appropriate age-related personal allowance. There will be further transitional protection for claimants receiving large amounts by way of the domestic assistance addition. The benefit of recipients of housing benefit supplement will be reassessed in the same way as other standard housing benefit cases.

These two draft sets of regulations will be complemented by further regulations covering claims and payments for social security benefit generally. These regulations will contain changes in the way that benefit is paid to income support recipients. From April, claimants under pension age will normally be paid for the same period in arrears as applies in the national insurance benefits that income support will supplement or replace. Arrangements in the transitional regulations will ensure that existing claimants will continue to receive benefit without any change in the intervals between payments.