Commentary on Clauses 7 to 13 Clause 10: Power to supplement and mitigate loss of benefit provisions
131.This clause contains definitions and further regulation-making powers enabling the scheme of benefit offence sanctions to be modified.
132.Subsection (1) allows the Secretary of State to provide by regulations that certain benefits shall be disqualifying but not sanctionable, or to exclude benefits from the scheme altogether by specifying them as neither disqualifying nor sanctionable benefits. It is intended to provide the Secretary of State with the flexibility to change the scope of the scheme where it is appropriate to do so.
133.Subsection (2) allows the Secretary of State to prescribe regulations for certain parts of a claimant’s benefit to be exempted from restriction, where that part is already being deducted from benefit and paid to a third party. For example, the Child Support reforms brought in under the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 introduced compulsory deductions from the benefits of absent parents. These are then passed on to the parent with care. In circumstances such as these the intention is that benefit payment is withdrawn or reduced apart from amounts subject to the amount of compulsory maintenance deductions which are to be paid over to the parents with care in the normal way.
134.Subsection (3) sets out definitions of the terms used within this provision.