Appendix 9
S.R. 2020/14
Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Costs (Executive Determinations) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020
1.In its letter to the Department of 12th February 2020, the Committee requested a memorandum on the following points:
(1) Explain why it was not possible to make these regulations earlier so that the 21-day rule could have been complied with.
(2) Clarify the reference to “paragraph 3” in regulation 2(3) (inserted sub-paragraph (2)(a)).
2.The Department’s response to the Committee’s points is set out below.
3.As noted above, the delays for these Regulations were due to the General Election. S.R. 2020/14 was laid 2 days later than S.I. 2020/27 because the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland needed to take into account the version for Great Britain before finalising the version for Northern Ireland.
4.Thank you for drawing the second point to our attention. The reference to “paragraph 3” in regulation 2(3) is an error. The reference should have been to “sub-paragraphs (4) to (8)”. The NI Housing Executive has been alerted to this error. Correcting the Order at this stage would not change the way in which the provisions were applied by the Rent Officers at the end of January 2020, who implemented the methodology for determining rents at the 30th percentile as set out in sub-paragraphs (4) to (8). The provisions are not applied by Rent Officers again after the end of January 2020. The Department apologises for this error.
Department for Work and Pensions
18 February 2020
Published: 6 March 2020