Section 74A | Payment of benefit where maintenance payments collected by Secretary of State ^F1

(1)This section applies where—^F1

(a)a person (“the claimant”) is entitled to a benefit to which this section applies;^F1

(b)the Secretary of State is collecting periodical payments of child or spouse maintenance made in respect of the claimant or a member of the claimant's family; and^F1

(c)the inclusion of any such periodical payment in the claimant's relevant income would, apart from this section, have the effect of reducing the amount of the benefit to which the claimant is entitled.^F1

(2)The Secretary of State may, to such extent as he considers appropriate, treat any such periodical payments as not being relevant income for the purposes of calculating the amount of benefit to which the claimant is entitled.^F1

(3)The Secretary of State may, to the extent that any periodical payment collected by him is treated as not being relevant income for those purposes retain the whole or any part of that payment.^F1

(4)Any sum retained by the Secretary of State under subsection (3) shall be paid by him into the Consolidated Fund.^F1

(5)In this section—^F1F2F3F4

“child” means a person under the age of 16;

“child maintenance”, “spouse maintenance” and “relevant income” have such meaning as may be prescribed;

“couple” has the meaning given by section 137(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

“family” means—

(a)a couple;

(b)a couple and a member of the same household for whom one of them is, or both are, responsible and who is a child or a person of a prescribed description;

(c)except in prescribed circumstances, a person who is not a member of a couple and a member of the same household for whom that person is responsible and who is a child or a person of a prescribed description;

(6)For the purposes of this section, the Secretary of State may by regulations make provision as to the circumstances in which—^F1

(a)persons are to be treated as being or not being members of the same household;^F1

(b)one person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for another.^F1

(7)The benefits to which this section applies are universal credit, income support, an income-based jobseeker's allowance, an income-related employment and support allowance and such other benefits (if any) as may be prescribed.^F1F5F6