STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS.

S.I. No. 162 of 1999.

SOCIAL WELFARE (RENT ALLOWANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1999.

S.I. No. 162 of 1999.

SOCIAL WELFARE (RENT ALLOWANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1999.

The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 23 (as amended by section 26 of the Social Welfare Act, 1989 ( No. 4 of 1989 )) of the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 (No. 6 of 1982) and subsections (2) and (3) of section 4 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993 ( No. 27 of 1993 ), hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and construction.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Rent Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations, 1999.

(2) The Social Welfare (Rent Allowance) Regulations, 1998 and these Regulations shall be construed together as one and may be cited as the Social Welfare (Rent Allowance) Regulations, 1998 to 1999.

Commencement.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 3rd day of June 1999.

Amount of rent allowance.

3. Article 7 of the Social Welfare (Rent Allowance) Regulations, 1998 ( S.I. No. 188 of 1998 ) is hereby amended by the substitution for sub-articles (1) and (2) of the following sub-articles:

“(1) An allowance, in the case of--

(a) a married person whose weekly means do not exceed £148.90, or

(b) any other person whose weekly means do not exceed £89,

shall be a weekly amount equal to the amount by which the rent (calculated as a weekly rent) fixed by a Court, or by the Tribunal, or by a rent officer on or after the 26th day of July, 1982 exceeds the rent so calculated payable prior to that date:

Provided that where the rent so calculated payable prior to that date was less than £6.80, the allowance shall be the amount by which the rent so calculated fixed by a Court, or by the Tribunal, or by a rent officer exceeds £6.80.

(2) An allowance, in the case of persons whose weekly means exceed the amounts specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of sub-article (1), as the case may be, shall be the amount of allowance that would arise if the provisions of sub-article (1) applied, reduced--

(a) in the case of a married person, by 50p for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £148.90, but not exceeding £158.90, and by £1 for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £158.90, and

(b) in any other case, by 50p for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £89, but not exceeding £94, and by £1 for each £1 of weekly means in excess of £94.”.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the making of the foregoing Regulations.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations provide for increases, with effect from 3rd June 1999, in the amount of means disregarded for people affected by the decontrol of rents and the minimum rent for the purposes of the Rent Allowance scheme.