Digest
Parliamentary Digest
BILLS
HC second reading, 5 February
HL committee stage, 3 February
HL second reading, 29 January
HL report stage, 27 January
HL third reading, 26 January
HL second reading, 26 January
HC third reading, 25 January
HC first reading, 19 January
HC first reading, 13 January
HC first reading, 12 January
HC first reading, 6 January
LEGISLATION
Royal assent, 28 January
Royal assent, 28 January
Amend the Legal Services Act 2007 (Claims Management Complaints) (Fees) Regulations 2014 SI No 3316. The Compensation Act (CA) 2006 provides for the designation of a regulator for regulated claims management services. Where no one is designated as the regulator and the secretary of state carries out the function under CA s5(9), the Lord Chancellor may charge periodic fees on those providing regulated claim management services to recover the expenditure incurred by the Lord Chancellor in respect of the Oÿce for Legal Complaints. These regulations amend the levels of fees set by the 2014 Regs, for the purposes of the year beginning with 1 April 2016 and subsequent years. This is to ensure that the fees meet the expenditure incurred by the Lord Chancellor. In force 29 January.
Brings into force a revised code of practice under Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 s60(1)( a), which will supersede the existing code of practice issued under that subsection. The amendments to Code E exempt four types of offences from the requirement that the interviews of individuals regarding indictable offences must be audio recorded. The amendments set out the conditions that must be met before the exemption can apply. The four types of offences are possession of cannabis; possession of khat; retail theft (shoplifting) of property with a value not exceeding £100; and criminal damage to a value not exceeding £300. In force 2 February 2016.
Amend the National Insurance Contributions Act (NICA) 2014. Persons who incur liabilities to pay secondary Class 1 national insurance contributions during a tax year are entitled, under NICA s1, to claim an allowance known as the ‘employment allowance’ , which they can deduct from their payments in respect of these liabilities. Regulation 2 amends NICA s1(2)( a) so as to increase the maximum amount of the employment allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 for the tax year 2016–17 and subsequent tax years.
FAMILY
Makes transitional provision in relation to the coming into force, on 6 April 2016, of Pensions Act 2014 ss13 to 15 and Schedules 8 to 11. These provisions allow for the continuation of state pension sharing on divorce or nullity of a marriage or dissolution or annulment of a civil partnership for people who reach state pension age on or after 6 April 2016 and are entitled to the new state pension at the transitional rate. These provisions also make amendments to existing legislation to distinguish rights to an old state pension which are shareable from rights to a new state pension which are shareable.
The transitional provision in this Order has the effect that where proceedings involving the sharing of state pension on divorce or nullity of a marriage or dissolution or annulment of a civil partnership have been issued or presented before 6 April 2016, the existing legislation, ie, Welfare Reform and Pensions Act (WRA) 1999 s49, will apply to those proceedings rather than WRA s49A. The Order makes similar transitional provision in relation to qualifying agreements in Scotland. In force 6 April 2016.
HEALTH
Article 2 brings into force, on 1 February 2016, Health and Social Care Act s223(4), which amends National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 s26A by inserting a new subsection (ie, ss(2A)) . New subsection 2A gives the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care the power to charge for advice, reports or investigations it has been commissioned to carry out by the secretary of state, the Welsh ministers, the Scottish ministers or a relevant Northern Ireland department.
IMMIGRATION
Article 2 brings into force, on 1 February 2016, certain provisions in Chapter 1 of Part 3 (residential tenancies) in respect of premises in England so far as not already in force. Those same provisions were previously brought into force in respect of premises in the areas of five local authorities in England by the Immigration Act 2014 (Commencement No 3, Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2014 SI No 2771.
Immigration Act (IA) 2014 Part 3, Chapter 1 provides a statutory excuse for landlords and their agents from being required to pay a civil penalty if they conduct prescribed identity checks on prospective occupiers and those occupiers who are renewing their tenancy agreements. The Immigration (Residential Accommodation) Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) Order 2014 SI No 2874 set out the prescribed requirements for identity checks which must be complied with by landlords and agents when entering into a residential tenancy agreement. That Order also brought into force a code of practice which specified, among other things, the reasonable enquiries that landlords and agents should make to determine the identity of relevant occupiers in relation to a residential tenancy agreement.
Articles 3 and 5 to 15 of this Order amend the Residential Accommodation Order 2014 to alter the list of acceptable documents which a landlord or agent must obtain from an occupier or prospective occupier in order to establish an excuse under section 24 or 26 of the IA.
Article 4 amends the prescribed form and manner in which contraventions of the prohibition on leasing premises to people disqualified by their immigration status must be notified to the secretary of state. Article 16 provides for a revised code of practice to come into force on 1 February 2016.
TAX
Amend the Tax Avoidance Schemes (Prescribed Descriptions of Arrangements) Regulations 2006 SI No 1543. The 2016 Regs extend the scope of the confidentiality and premium fee hallmarks to include inheritance tax; make changes to aspects of the standardised tax products and losses hallmarks; and introduce a new hallmark relating to financial products.
WELFARE
Brings into force provisions of the Welfare Reform Act (WRA) 2012 that relate to universal credit (UC) and the abolition of income-related employment and support allowance (IRESA) and incomebased jobseeker’s allowance (IBJSA), in relation to the cases set out in articles 3 and 4.
Article 3 brings into force provisions relating to UC in WRA Part 1 as set out in WRA Schedule 2 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No 9 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions and Commencement No 8 and Savings and Transitional Provisions (Amendment)) Order 2013 SI No 983)) , in relation to the different cases as set out below. Under article 3(1) and (2)( a), the UC provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claim is made on or after 27 January 2016 with respect to a period that begins on or after 27 January 2016 and, on the date on which the claim is made, the claimant resides in one of the Part 1 designated postcodes. Sub-paragraph (b) of article 3(2) makes the same provision for claims made on or after 24 February 2016 where the claimant resides in one of the Part 2 designated postcodes.
See article 2(1) for the definition of those postcodes. Under article 3(1) and (2)( c), the UC provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claimant claims UC on or after the dates referred to in article 3(2)( a) and (b) in respect of a period that begins on or after those dates and provides incorrect information regarding the claimant residing in the postcode in question but this is only discovered once payments of UC have been made.
Under article 3(3), the day appointed for the coming into force of the UC provisions in the above cases is the first day of the period in respect of which the claim is made. Paragraphs (4) and (5) of article 3 apply the provisions of article 3(6) (period for which a claim for UC is made) and article 3A (incorrect information regarding entitlement to claim UC) of the No 9 Order above respectively to the cases in article 3(2) of this Order.
Article 4 brings into force provisions of the WRA relating to the abolition of IRESA and IBJSA (‘ the amending provisions’ ), in relation to the different cases as set out below.
Below, ‘old-style ESA’ means employment and support allowance under WRA Part 1 as that Part has effect apart from the amending provisions, and ‘old-style JSA’ means jobseeker’s allowance under the Jobseekers Act (JSA) 1995 as that has effect apart from the amending provisions. Under article 4(1) and (2)( a), the amending provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claim is made on or after 27 January 2016 with respect to a period that begins on or after 27 January 2016 and, on the date on which the claim is made, the claimant resides in one of the Part 1 designated postcodes. Sub-paragraph (b) of article 4(2) makes the same provision for claims made on or after 24 February 2016 where the claimant resides in one of the Part 2 designated postcodes. Under article 4(1) and (2)( c), the amending provisions come into force in relation to a claim for UC, and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claimant claims UC on or after the dates referred to in article 4(2)( a) and (b) in respect of a period that begins on or after those dates and provides incorrect information regarding the claimant residing in the postcode in question, but this is only discovered once payments of UC have been made.
Under article 4(1) and sub-paragraphs (d) and (e) of paragraph (2), the amending provisions come into force in relation to a claim for an employment and support allowance (ESA) or a jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), and any award that is made in respect of the claim, where the claim is made on or after the dates referred to in either of those sub-paragraphs and, on the date on which the claim is made, the claimant resides in one of the postcodes specified in that sub-paragraph .
Under article 4(1) and (2)( f ), the amending provisions come into force in relation to the case of a claim for ESA or JSA where the claim is not a claim for ESA or JSA as referred to in article 4(2) (d) and (e) and where the claim is made during the ‘relevant period’ (mainly the period when a claim for UC is being considered or an award of UC is extant).
Under article 4(3), the day appointed for the coming into force of the amending provisions in the above cases is the first day of the period in respect of which the claim is made. Paragraphs (6) to (8) of article 4 apply the provisions of article 4(6), (7), (9) and (10) (matters included in the reference to the case of a claim for UC) and article 5(1A), (1B) (claim for ESA or JSA by a member of a couple) and (8) (the period for which a claim for ESA, JSA or UC is made) of the No. 9 Order to the cases in article 4(2).