Age-Related Payments Regulations 2005

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Age-Related Payments Regulations 2005. The noble Lord said: In my view, this statutory instrument is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. I also draw the Committee’s attention to the report by the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee. That committee states that it found difficulty in assessing the implementation of the policy intention of the regulations. As the first chair of the Merits Committee, I must pay great attention to its view on the first order that I put before the Grand Committee. I must apologise to the Committee for the fact that the explanatory memorandum was not as clear as it might have been or as I would have wished, if I were still chair of the Merits Committee. The substantive point on which the committee asked for clarification related to those who have two homes. I must make it clear that the £200 age-related payment will be paid to a qualifying person only once. It will be paid to them at the address that the Pension Service holds on the departmental computer system as the person’s main residence. The regulations are being made under the Age-related Payments Act 2004. The regulations are pretty straightforward. They allow for two payments to be made this year alongside our winter fuel payments. The first is a payment of £200 to households with   someone aged 65 or over not in receipt of the guaranteed credit element of pension credit to help with council tax bills. I am sure that all noble Lords welcomed the fact that this year’s council tax increases were the lowest in a decade and, indeed, the second lowest ever. However, there is no doubt that, whatever the level of increase, those in retirement often remain the hardest hit, and we considered that it would be prudent to help target those groups. The second payment is a £50 payment to households with someone aged 70 or over in receipt of the guaranteed credit element of pension credit. The payment will provide help to our least well-off pensioners with additional living expenses. I shall go into the detail of the regulations. The regulations describe the conditions under which a qualifying individual will receive either a £200 or £100 payment, depending on their household circumstances. The concept of a household payment is well known from the winter fuel payments scheme, and it is on that basis that the age-related payments have been modelled. A qualifying individual will receive a payment of £200, if they are the only eligible person in the household. If there is another eligible person, each will receive £100. If there are three eligible people, all three will receive £100. If the qualifying individual is part of a couple and he is the only qualifying member, he will receive £200. The regulations specify that, in that case, the other member of the couple cannot be in receipt of an income-related benefit. The reason for that is straightforward: if a couple are in receipt of one of the benefits, they are eligible for the maximum help from council tax benefit. The intention is to pay those who do not receive such help towards their council tax bills. The payment of £50 to households with someone aged 70 or over in receipt of the guarantee element of pension credit is intended to help less well-off pensioners with additional living expenses. It is widely recognised that unexpected expenses present more of a problem to those further removed from the labour market. The payment acknowledges that fact. A £50   payment will be made to a qualifying individual where he is single; part of a couple the other member of which does not qualify; or part of a couple both of whom qualify but he is the member who receives the guaranteed credit element for them both. The regulations allow that, for the £200 and the £50   payments, if it is the partner of the eligible person who receives the winter fuel payment, they will also receive the age-related payment on behalf of their partner. That allows us to use a tried and tested system to deliver the payments. The regulations remove entitlement to the £50 payment from those who have been living in a care home continuously for 13 weeks by the end of the relevant week. Such people are likely to have their daily requirements provided for by their care home and paid for by public funds. Furthermore, they are not subject to the same large, one-off expenses as those maintaining their own home. The payments will be made without a claim being required, where we hold the information to allow that. I hope that I have explained the regulations in a clear way to the Committee. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Age-Related Payments Regulations 2005—(Lord Hunt of Kings Heath.)