68.Section 6 falls to the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Social Security and covers all of Great Britain.
69.The purpose of this section is to remove entitlement to income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit from those young people who will be supported by local authorities under the arrangements made in this Act until age 18.
70.There is a provision at subsection (3) to provide in regulations for certain groups of eligible young people to be exempted from this loss of benefit. It is envisaged that this provision will be used to ensure that Income Support and Job Seeker’s Allowance will still be available to care leavers who would otherwise be relevant children but who are lone parents or disabled.
71.There is no provision to remove non-means tested benefits (such as Disability Living Allowance) and these benefits will continue to be paid to all those care leavers who qualify for them.
72.There is no reference to Council Tax Benefit because people under age 18 are not liable for Council Tax.
Commentary on Sections Section 6: Exclusion from benefits