The Department for Communities has made the Social Security (Income and Capital Disregards) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026, according to the instrument published on legislation.gov.uk. The Regulations were made on 16 October 2026 and are due to come into operation on 31 October 2026 or, if later, on the day section 12 of the Abuse Redress Measure 2025 comes into force. The policy effect is specific but material. Payments made by the scheme administered by the redress body under the Abuse Redress Measure 2025, described in the instrument as a Church of England Redress payment, are to be disregarded in the benefit rules amended by this measure.
In plain terms, a claimant who receives one of these redress payments should not be treated, under the amended provisions, as having additional income or capital simply because the payment has been made. That matters in means-tested systems, where an amount counted in the ordinary way can reduce entitlement or bring an award to an end. The drafting also shows a familiar social security method. Rather than creating a separate code, the Department has inserted the new payment into existing disregard provisions that already protect other redress or compensation awards, including Mother and Baby Scheme payments.
The amendments reach five sets of Northern Ireland benefit rules. They update the State Pension Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, the Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008, and the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016. For Universal Credit, the change is framed through regulation 76(1A), which lists special compensation and redress schemes. The Church of England scheme is added as a new entry, meaning the payment joins the existing list of awards that are left out of account for Universal Credit purposes.
For Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Employment and Support Allowance, the amendments are more granular. According to the legislation.gov.uk text, the new payment is written into definitions, income disregards, capital disregards, notional income rules, notional capital rules, income treated as capital provisions and, where relevant, housing costs or non-dependant deduction provisions. That level of drafting matters for administration. A disregard can be weakened if it applies in one part of a scheme but not another, so the instrument updates each benefit code at several points to keep the treatment consistent when officials assess entitlement.
The instrument also amends the definition of 'qualifying person' in several of the underlying Regulations. In practice, that places a Church of England Redress payment alongside other protected awards already recognised within the Northern Ireland social security framework. Regulations 3 and 4, which amend the two Housing Benefit instruments, were made with the consent of the Department of Finance. The instrument was sealed for the Department for Communities by David Tarr on 16 October 2026, and the Department of Finance consent was sealed the same day by Patrick Neeson.
The explanatory note states that the Regulations make provision for Northern Ireland only and correspond to provision already made for Great Britain by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. On that basis, the Department says the instrument did not need prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee under section 149(2) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992. For claimants, advisers and welfare rights teams, the practical message is straightforward. Once the commencement condition is met, Church of England Redress payments should be ignored when the amended benefits are calculated, helping to ensure that redress for abuse is not offset by a lower means-tested award.