Statutory Instrument 1988 No. 1724

The Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988

---

© Crown Copyright 1988

Statutory Instruments printed from this website are printed under the superintendence and authority of the Controller of HMSO being the Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament.

The legislation contained on this web site is subject to Crown Copyright protection. It may be reproduced free of charge provided that it is reproduced accurately and that the source and copyright status of the material is made evident to users.

It should be noted that the right to reproduce the text of Statutory Instruments does not extend to the Queen's Printer imprints which should be removed from any copies of the Statutory Instrument which are issued or made available to the public. This includes reproduction of the Statutory Instrument on the Internet and on intranet sites. The Royal Arms may be reproduced only where they are an integral part of the original document.

The text of this Internet version of the Statutory Instrument which is published by the Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament has been prepared to reflect the text as it was Made. A print version is also available and is published by The Stationery Office Limited as the The Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988, ISBN 0110877241. The print version may be purchased by clicking here. Braille copies of this Statutory Instrument can also be purchased at the same price as the print edition by contacting TSO Customer Services on 0870 600 5522 or e-mail:customer.services@tso.co.uk.

Further information about the publication of legislation on this website can be found by referring to the Frequently Asked Questions.

To ensure fast access over slow connections, large documents have been segmented into "chunks". Where you see a "continue" button at the bottom of the page of text, this indicates that there is another chunk of text available.

1988 No. 1724

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988

The Secretary of State for Social Security in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 32(2A) and 84(1) of the Social Security Act 1986^[1] , and section 166(1) to (3A) of the Social Security Act 1975^[2] and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, by this instrument, which is made before the end of the period of 6 months from the commencement of the enactment under which it is made, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation
    1.—(1)  These Regulations may be cited as the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments (General) Regulations 1988 and shall come into force on 7th November 1988.

    (2)  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires-
"the Act" means the Social Security Act 1986;
"the General Regulations" means the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987^[3] ;
"child" has the meaning assigned to it by section 20(11) of the Act;
"claimant" means a person claiming a payment out of the social fund under section 32(2A) of the Act to meet expenses for heating;
"family" has the meaning assigned to it by section 20(11) of the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations includes persons who are members of a polygamous marriage;
"home" means the dwelling, together with any garage, garden and outbuildings normally occupied by the claimant as his home, including any premises not so occupied which it is impracticable or unreasonable to sell separately in particular, in Scotland, any croft land on which the dwelling is situated;
"income support" means income support under Part II of the Act and includes transitional addition, personal expenses addition and special transitional addition as defined in the Income Support (Transitional) Regulations 1987^[4] ;
"mean daily temperature" means, in respect of a day, the average of the maximum temperature and minimum temperature recorded at a station for that day;
"period of cold weather" means a period of 7 days beginning on a Monday and ending on the following Sunday during which the average of the mean daily temperature for that period is equal to or below 0 degrees Celsius;
"polygamous marriage" means any marriage during the subsistence of which a party to it is married to more than one person and the ceremony of marriage took place under the law of a country which permits polygamy;
"station" means a National Climatological Message Station.


    (3)  In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to a numbered regulation is to the regulation in these Regulations bearing that number and a reference in a regulation to a numbered paragraph or sub-paragraph is to the paragraph or sub-paragraph in that regulation bearing that number.

Prescribed circumstances
    2.—(1)  Subject to regulation 4, the prescribed circumstances in which a payment may be made out of the social fund to meet expenses for heating under section 32(2A) of the Act are-
 (a) a period of cold weather is recorded at a station described in column (1) of the Schedule to these Regulations or, if that station is unable to provide temperature information for the period in question, the nearest such station to that station able to provide temperature information for that period;
 (b) the home of the claimant is, or by virtue of paragraph (2)(b) is treated as, situated in an area in respect of which the first-mentioned station in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph is the designated station; and
 (c) the claimant has been awarded income support in respect of at least one day during such period of cold weather and either-
  (i) the claimant's applicable amount includes one or more of the premiums specified in paragraphs 9 to 14 of Part III of Schedule 2 to the General Regulations; or
 (ii) a member of the claimant's family is aged less than 2.

    (2)  For the purposes of this regulation-
 (a) the station described in column (1) of the Schedule to these Regulations is the designated station for the areas described in the corresponding paragraph in column (2) of that Schedule;
 (b) where the home of the claimant is not situated within an area described in column (2) of that Schedule, it shall be treated as situated within the area nearest to it described in that column.

Prescribed amount
    3.    Subject to regulation 4, the amount of the payment in respect of each period of cold weather shall be £5.

Effect and calculation of capital
    4.—(1)  Where a claimant has any capital which is in excess of £500, a payment in respect of a period of cold weather which, but for this regulation, would be payable, shall be payable only to the extent that the amount of the payment would otherwise exceed the amount by which that capital exceeds £500.

    (2)  For the purposes of paragraph (1), the claimant's capital shall be calculated in the same manner as his capital is calculated under the General Regulations for the purposes of determining his entitlement to income support.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Social Security

Nicholas Scott

Minister of State, Department of Social Security

7th October 1988

[1] 1986 c. 50; section 32(2A) was added by section 11 of and paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Social Security Act 1988 (c. 7). Section 84(1) is cited because of the meaning assigned to the word"prescribed" . back

[2] 1975 c. 14; section 166(3A) was added by section 62(1) of the Social Security Act 1986 and section 166(1) to (3A) is applied by section 83(1) of that Act. back

[3] 1987/1967; relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1988/663, 910, 999, 1228 and 1445. back

[4] 1987/1969, amending instruments are S.I. 1988/521 and 670. back

Explanatory Note