ANNEX 1:: MINOR CHANGES IN THE LAW MADE BY THE BILL This change has no implications for the amount of tax due, who pays it or when. It affects (in principle and in practice) only administrative matters. Change 6: Blind person’s allowance: enactment of ESC A86: section 38
This change gives statutory effect to ESC A86.
For claimants in England and Wales, the blindness condition for entitlement to blind person’s allowance under section 265 of ICTA is met where the claimant is on a register compiled by a local authority under section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948.
ESC A86 states that:
“When a person becomes entitled to the blind person’s allowance by being included on a register compiled under the National Assistance Act 1948 s 29, then he or she shall (subject to the normal time limits for claims) also be given the blind person’s allowance for the previous year if, at the end of that previous year, he or she had already obtained the evidence of blindness (such as an ophthalmologist’s certificate) upon which the registration was subsequently based.”
To get the benefit of the concession, the individual must make a claim for the tax year preceding the year of registration. This requirement is preserved, so that a person who qualifies for relief under section 38(4) must make a claim for the tax year preceding the tax year in which he or she is first registered.
Section 38(4) gives effect to this concession.