Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002
2002 No. 2005
TAX CREDITS
The Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002
Made 30th July 2002
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1
Whereas a draft of this instrument, which prescribes the amount in excess of which, by virtue of subsection (2) of section 12 of the Tax Credits Act 20021, charges are not to be taken into account for the purposes of that subsection, and which also contains the first regulations made under sections 11 and 12 of that Act, has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament:
Now, therefore, the Treasury, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by sections 10, 11, 12, 65(1) and (7) and 67 of the Tax Credits Act 20022, hereby make the following Regulations:
PART 1
GENERAL
Citation, commencement and effect
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Working Tax Credit (Entitlement and Maximum Rate) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force—
(a) for the purpose of enabling claims to be made, on 1st August 2002;
(b) for the purpose of enabling decisions on claims to be made, on 1st January 2003; and
(c) for all other purposes, on 6th April 2003;
and shall have effect for the tax year beginning on 6th April 2003 and subsequent tax years.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Tax Credits Act 2002, and a reference without more to a numbered section is a reference to the section of the Act bearing that number;
“the Board” means the Commissioners of Inland Revenue;
“the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19923;
“child” has the same meaning as it has in the Child Tax Credit Regulations 20024;
“claim” means a claim for working tax credit and “joint claim” and “single claim” have the meanings respectively assigned in section 3(6);
“claimant” means the person making a claim and, in the case of a joint claim, means either of the claimants;
“couple” means a married couple or an unmarried couple;
“the determination of the maximum rate” means the determination of the maximum rate of working tax credit;
“employed”, except in the expression “self-employed” means employed under a contract of service and includes the holding of an office, the emoluments of which are chargeable to Schedule E, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“employment zone” means an area within Great Britain designated by the Employment Zones Regulations 20005for the purposes of section 60 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 19996;
“employment zone programme” means a programme which is—
(a) established for one or more employment zones, and
(b) designed to assist claimants for a jobseeker’s allowance to obtain sustainable employment;
“initial claim” has the same meaning as in section 11(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 19927;
“local authority” means—
(a) in relation to England, the council of a county or district, a metropolitan district, a London Borough, the Common Council of the City of London or the Council of the Isles of Scilly;
(b) in relation to Wales, the council of a county or county borough; or,
(c) in relation to Scotland, a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government, etc. (Scotland) Act 19948;
“patient” means a person (other than a person who is serving a sentence, imposed by a court, in a prison or youth custody institution or, in Scotland, a young offenders' institution) who is regarded as receiving free in-patient treatment within the meaning of the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations 19759;
“period of award” shall be construed in accordance with section 4;
“qualifying young person” means a person who satisfies regulation 5 of the Child Tax Credit Regulations 2002;
“relevant child care charges” has the meaning given by regulation 14;
“Schedule E” means the Schedule so described in the Taxes Act;
“self-employed” means engaged in the carrying on of a trade profession or vocation;
“sports award” means an award made by one of the Sports Councils named in section 23(2) of the National Lottery etc. Act 199310out of sums allocated to it for distribution under that section;
“surrogate child” means a child in respect of whom an order has been made under section 30 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 199011;
“the Taxes Act” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 198812;
“training allowance” means an allowance (whether by way of periodical grants or otherwise) payable—
(a) out of public funds by a Government department or by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise or the Department for Employment and Learning (“the relevant paying authority”);
(b) to a person in respect of his maintenance or in respect of a member of his family; and
(c) for the period, or part of the period, during which he is following a course of training or instruction—
(i) provided by, or in pursuance of arrangements made with, the relevant paying authority, or
(ii) approved by the relevant paying authority in relation to him,
but does not include an allowance, paid by a Government department, Northern Ireland department or the Scottish Executive to or in respect of a person by reason of the fact that he is training as a teacher, or is following a course of full-time education, other than under arrangements made under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 197313, section 2 or 3 of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act (Northern Ireland) 194514, or section 1(1) of the Employment and Training Act (Northern Ireland) 195015;
“week” means a period of seven days beginning with midnight between Saturday and Sunday.
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations a person is responsible for a child or qualifying young person if he is treated as being responsible for that child or qualifying young person in accordance with the rules contained in regulation 3 of the Child Tax Credit Regulations 2002.
(3) A reference in these Regulations to an enactment applying to Great Britain but not to Northern Ireland shall, unless the context otherwise requires, include a reference to the corresponding enactment applying in Northern Ireland.
Other elements of working tax credit
3.—(1) For the purposes of determining the maximum rate of working tax credit, in addition to the basic element and the disability element16, the following elements are prescribed—
(a)
(a) a 30 hour element;
(b)
(b) a second adult element;
(c)
(c) a lone parent element;
(d)
(d) a child care element;
(e)
(e) a severe disability element; and
(f)
(f) a 50 plus element.
(2) It is a condition of entitlement to the other elements of working tax credit that the person making the claim for working tax credit is entitled to the basic element.
(3) If the claim for working tax credit is a joint claim, and both members of the couple satisfy the conditions of entitlement for—
(a)
(a) the disability element,
(b)
(b) the severe disability element, or
(c)
(c) the 50 plus element,
the award must include two such elements.
PART 2
CONDITIONS OF ENTITLEMENT
Basic element
Entitlement to basic element of Working Tax Credit: qualifying remunerative work
4.—(1) Subject to the qualification in paragraph (2), a person shall be treated as engaged in qualifying remunerative work if, and only if, he satisfies all of the following conditions.
First condition
The person—
(a) is working at the date of the claim; or
(b) has an offer of work which he has accepted at the date of the claim and the work is expected to commence within 7 days of the making of the claim.
In relation to a case falling within sub-paragraph (b) of this condition, references in the second third and fourth conditions below to work which the person undertakes are to be construed as references to the work which the person will undertake when it commences.
In such a case the person is only to be treated as being in qualifying remunerative work when he begins the work referred to in that sub-paragraph.
Second condition
The person—
(a) is aged at least 16 and undertakes work for not less than 16 hours per week if—
(i) there is a child or qualifying young person for whom he or his partner is responsible, or
(ii) he has a physical or mental disability which puts him at a disadvantage in getting a job,
(b) satisfies the conditions in regulation 18, or
(c) is aged at least 25 and undertakes not less than 30 hours work per week in any other case.
Third condition
The work which the person undertakes is expected to continue for at least 4 weeks after the making of the claim or, in a case falling within sub-paragraph (b) of the first condition, after the work starts.
Fourth condition
The work is done for payment or in expectation of payment.
Paragraphs (3) and (4) provide the method of determining the number of hours of qualifying remunerative work that a person undertakes.
Regulations 5 to 8 apply in relation to periods of absence from work connected with childbirth or adoption, sickness, seasonal absence from work in relation to which there is a recognised yearly cycle of employment and those who have a gap between periods of work.
Regulation 9 prescribes the conditions which must be satisfied by, or exist in relation to, a person so that he is to be treated as having a physical or mental disability which puts him at a disadvantage in getting a job.
(2) A person who would otherwise satisfy the conditions in paragraph (1) shall not be regarded as engaged in qualifying remunerative work to the extent that he is—
(a)
(a) engaged by a charitable or voluntary organisation, or is a volunteer, if the only payment received by...
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