
PART I
1 
These regulations may be cited as the Social Security (Invalid
Care Allowance) Regulations 1976 and shall come into operation on 12th April
1976.
2 

(1) In these regulations, unless the context
otherwise requires, “the Act”
means the Social Security
Act 1975 and other expressions have the same
meanings as in the Act.
(2) Any reference in these regulations to
any provision made by or contained in any enactment or instrument shall, except
in so far as the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to
that provision as amended or extended by any enactment or instrument and as
including a reference to any provision which may re-enact or replace, it with
or without modification.
(3) The rules for the construction of Acts
of Parliament contained in the 
Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the
purposes of the interpretation of these regulations as they apply for the
purposes of the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.
PART II
3 

(1) For the purposes of 
section 37 of the Act (invalid care allowance)
the prescribed payments out of public funds which constitute the persons in
respect of whom they are payable as severely disabled persons are—
(a) a payment under 
section 61 of the Act (increase of disablement
pension where constant attendance needed);
(b) a payment such as is referred to in section 7(3)(b) of
the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Act 1975
 (increase of an allowance under that Act where
the person in respect of whom that allowance is payable requires constant
attendance as a result of his disablement);
(c) a payment under 
regulation 44 of the Social Security
(Industrial Injuries) (Benefit) Regulations 1975 in respect of the need of constant attendance;

(d) a payment by way of an allowance in respect
of constant attendance on account of disablement for which a person is in
receipt of a war disablement pension,being a payment the weekly rate of which is not less than the amount
specified in paragraph 7(a) of Part V of Schedule
4 to the Act.
(2) For the purposes of 
paragraph (1)(d) of this regulation “war disablement pension” means — 
(a) retired pay, pension
or allowance granted in respect of disablement under powers conferred by or
under the Ministry of Pensions
Act 1916 the 
Air Force (Constitution) Act 1917, the Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions)
Act 1939, the 
Pensions (Navy, Army, Air Force and Mercantile Marine) Act 1939,
the Polish Resettlement Act
1947, the 
Home Guard Act 1951 or the 
Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969;

(b) any retired pay or pension to
which section 365(1)
of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970
applies, not being retired pay, pension or allowance to which 
sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph applies;
or

(c) any payment which the Secretary
of State has certified can be accepted as being analogous to any such retired
pay, pension or allowance as is referred to in 
sub-paragraph (a) or (b)
of this paragraph.
4 

(1) A person shall be treated as engaged
and as regularly and substantially engaged in caring for a severely disabled
person on every day in a week if, and shall not be treated as engaged or regularly
and substantially engaged in caring for a severely disabled person on any
day in a week unless, as at that week he is, or is likely to be, engaged and
regularly engaged for at least 35 hours a week in caring for that severely
disabled person.
(2) A week in respect of which a person fails
to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (1)
 of this regulation shall be treated as a week
in respect of which that person satisfies those requirements if he establishes—

(a) that he has only temporarily ceased to
satisfy them; and
(b) that (disregarding the provisions of
this sub-paragraph) he has satisfied them for at least 14 weeks in the period
of 26 weeks ending with that week and would have satisfied them for at least
22 weeks in that period but for the fact that either he or the severely disabled
person for whom he has been caring was undergoing medical or other treatment
as an in-patient in a hospital or similar institution.
5 

(1) For the purposes of an invalid care allowance,
a person shall not be treated as receiving full-time education for any period
unless that period is one in respect of which the Secretary of State certifies
that he is receiving full-time education by attendance at an establishment
recognised by the Secretary of State as being, or as comparable to, a university,
college or school.
(2) In determining the duration of a period
of full-time education under paragraph (1)
of this regulation, any temporary interruption of that education may be disregarded.

6 

(1) For the purposes of 
section 37(1)(c) of the Act (condition of entitlement
to an invalid care allowance that the severely disabled person is either such
relative of the person caring for him as may be prescribed or a person of
any such other description as may be prescribed) the relationship which the
severely disabled person is required to bear to the person caring for him
is that of—
(a) lineal descendant or ascendant in a direct
line;
(b) husband, wife, step-father, step-mother,
step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, step-brother,
step-sister, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece; or
(c) father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law,
sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law.
(2) Any such relationship as is specified
in paragraph (1)
of this regulation shall be taken to include also any such relationship as
would have subsisted if some person born illegitimate had been born legitimate.

7 

(1) For the purposes of the provision in 
section 37(7) of the Act which provides that
where, apart from that section, two or more persons would be entitled for
the same day to an invalid care allowance in respect of the same severely
disabled person one of them only shall be entitled, being such one of them
as they may jointly elect in the prescribed manner, an election shall be made
by giving the Secretary of State a notice in writing signed by the persons
who but for the said provision would be entitled to an invalid care allowance
in respect of the same severely disabled person specifying one of them as
the person to be entitled.
(2) An election under 
paragraph (1) of this regulation shall not
be effective to confer entitlement to invalid care allowance either for the
day on which the election is made or for any earlier day if such day is one
for which an invalid care allowance has been paid in respect of the severely
disabled person in question and has not been repaid or recovered.
8 

(1) For the purposes of 
section 37(1)(b) of the Act (condition of a
person being entitled to an invalid care allowance for any day that he is
not gainfully employed) a person shall not be treated as gainfully employed
on any day in a week unless his earnings in the immediately preceding week
have exceeded £6 and, subject to paragraph
(2) of this regulation, shall be treated as
gainfully employed on every day in a week if his earnings in the immediately
preceding week have exceeded £6.
(2) There shall be disregarded for the purposes
of paragraph (1)
above a person's earnings—
(a) for any week which under 
paragraph (2) of regulation 4 of these regulations
is treated as a week in which that person satisfies the requirements of 
paragraph (1) of that regulation;
(b) for any week as an employed earner if
that week is one throughout which he is absent from the employment by virtue
of which he is an employed earner with the authority of his employer; and

(c) in the week immediately preceding the
week in respect of which that person (if his earnings in the said immediately
preceding week were disregarded) would first become entitled to an invalid
care allowance in respect of a severely disabled person.
(3) The 
Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations 1974, as amended, except regulations 5 to 7 thereof, shall
apply in relation to invalid care allowance as they apply in relation to invalidity
pension.
9 

(1) Subject to the following provisions of
this regulation, the prescribed conditions for the purposes of 
section 37(4) of the Act (person not to be
entitled to an invalid care allowance unless he satisfies prescribed conditions
as to residence or presence in Great Britain) in relation to any person in
respect of any day shall be—
(a) that he is ordinarily resident in Great
Britain; and
(b) that he is present in Great Britain;
and
(c) that he has been present in Great Britain
for a period of, or periods amounting in the aggregate to, not less than 26
weeks in the 12 months immediately preceding that day.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) and (c) of this
regulation, a person who is absent from Great Britain on any day shall be
treated as being present in Great Britain—
(a) if his absence is, and when it began
was, for a temporary purpose and has not lasted for a continuous period exceeding
4 weeks; or
(b) if his absence is temporary and for the
specific purpose of caring for the severely disabled person who is also absent
from Great Britain and where attendance allowance or a payment specified in 
regulation 3(1) of these regulations is payable
in respect of that disabled person for that day.
(3) For the purposes of 
paragraphs (1)(b) and (c) of this regulation,
a person shall be treated as having been present in Great Britain on a day
if on that day he is—
(a) a merchant seaman within the meaning
of the Family Allowances
(Qualifications) Regulations 1969, as amended; or
(b) a member of the forces within the meaning
of those regulations; or
(c) living with such a member of the forces
and is that member's spouse, son, daughter, father, father-in-law, mother
or mother-in-law.
10 
A person who has attained pensionable age shall for the purposes
of section 37(5)
of the Act be treated as having been entitled to an invalid care allowance
immediately before attaining that age if immediately before attaining it he
would have satisfied the conditions for entitlement to that allowance but
for the provisions of the 
Social Security (Overlapping Benefits) Regulations 1975, as amended
11 
Where a person is entitled to an invalid care allowance immediately
before he attains retiring age he shall not be disentitled to that allowance
after he attains that age by reason only of the fact that he is not caring
for a severely disabled person or no longer satisfies the requirements of 
section 37(1)(a) or (b)
of the Act.
12 

(1) For the purposes of increases of invalid
care allowance for child dependants under section
49 of the Act, the prescribed circumstances
in which a beneficiary is entitled to such an increase for any period shall
be as set out in the following paragraphs of this regulation.
(2) The weekly rate of an invalid care allowance
for any period for which the beneficiary has a family which includes a child
or children shall be increased in respect of that child, or each respectively
of those children, by the appropriate amount specified in relation to that
allowance in column (2) or 
(3) of Part IV of Schedule 4 to the Act.
(3) A child of the family of a woman for
the time being residing with the beneficiary is to be treated for the purposes
of this regulation as a child of the beneficiary's family if the child—

(a) is an illegitimate son or daughter of
theirs; or
(b) was born not less than 6 months before
the day for which the increase provided by paragraph
(2) above is claimed and was wholly or mainly
maintained by the beneficiary throughout the 6 months ending immediately before
that day.
(4) Where a person is entitled to receive
payment of an amount by way of an increase of an invalid care allowance under
the foregoing paragraphs of this regulation, that increase shall not be payable
unless one of the following conditions is satisfied—
(a) that the child in question is living
with the beneficiary; or
(b) that the requisite contributions are
being made to the cost of providing for the child.
(5) The condition specified in 
paragraph (4)(b) above is to be treated as
satisfied if, but only if—
(a) such contributions are being made at
a weekly rate not less than the amount referred to in 
paragraph (4) above—
(i) by the beneficiary, or
(ii) where the beneficiary is one of two
spouses living together, by them together; and
(b) where an allowance under the Family Allowances Act 1965
is payable in respect of the child as a child of the beneficiary's family,
the contributions are over and above those required for the purposes of satisfying 
section 3(2) of that Act or (as the case may
be) the Schedule to that Act, paragraph 1(1)
, proviso.
(6) Where a person is entitled in respect
of a child to a guardian's allowance under section
38 of the Act, the amount (if any) payable
to that or any other person by way of invalid care allowance in respect of
children of any family shall be such, and such only, as would be payable if
the first-mentioned child were not included or treated as included in any
family.
(7) Any sum or sums paid by a person by way
of contribution towards the cost of providing for two or more children included
or treated as included in that person's family, shall be treated as such contributions,
of such respective amounts equal in the aggregate to the said sum or sums,
in respect of those children so as to secure as large a payment as possible
by way of invalid care allowance in respect of them.
13 

(1) For the purposes of increases of invalid
care allowance for adult dependants under section
49 of the Act, the prescribed circumstances
in which a beneficiary is entitled to such an increase for any period shall
be as set out in paragraph (2)
of this regulation.
(2) The weekly rate of an invalid care allowance
shall be increased by the amount specified in relation to that allowance in 
column (4) of Part IV of Schedule 4 to the
Act for any period during which the beneficiary is residing with—
(a) his wife and she is not engaged in any
one or more employments from which her weekly earnings exceed that amount;
or
(b) some female person (not being a child)
who—
(i) has the care of a child or children of
the beneficiary's family within the meaning of 
regulation 12 of these regulations being a
child or children in respect of whom he is entitled to an increase of an invalid
care allowance or would be so entitled but for the provisions of any regulation
for the time being in force under the Act relating to overlapping benefits;

(ii) is not undergoing imprisonment or detention
in legal custody;
(iii) is not engaged in any one or more employments
(other than her employment by the beneficiary in caring for a child or children
of his family) from which her weekly earnings exceed that amount;
(iv) is not absent from Great Britain, except
for any period during which she is residing with the beneficiary outside Great
Britain and for which the beneficiary is entitled to an invalid care allowance.

(3) A person who is entitled to an increase
of an invalid care allowance under paragraph
(2)(a) above shall not be entitled to an increase
of that benefit under paragraph (2)(b)
above.
14 
The provisions of the 
Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1974, as amended, specified in column (1) of
Schedule 1 to these regulations, the subject
matter of which is described in column (2) of that Schedule, shall, with any
necessary modifications, apply to invalid care allowance as they apply to
invalidity pension.
PART III
15 

(1) The 
Social Security (Overlapping Benefits) Regulations 1975, as amended,
shall be further amended in accordance with the provisions of this regulation.

(2) In regulation
3 (adjustment of personal benefit under Chapters I and II of Part II of
the Act where other personal benefit under those Chapters is payable)—

(a) in paragraph
(2)(d) after the words “non-contributory
invalidity pension” there shall be inserted the words 
“or invalid care allowance”;
(b) for paragraph
(5) there shall be substituted the following
paragraph:—“
(5) Where a person is entitled
to a graduated retirement benefit and a Category D retirement pension, a non-contributory
invalidity pension or an invalid care allowance, the Category D retirement
pension, the non-contributory invalidity pension or the invalid care allowance,
as the case may be, shall be adjusted in accordance with 
paragraph (4)(a).”
(3) For regulation
9A (special provision relating to the adjustment
of non-contributory invalidity pension) there shall be substituted the following
regulation:—“


9A 
In any case where personal benefit or dependency benefit by way
of a non-contributory invalidity pension or an invalid care allowance would,
in accordance with the provisions of regulations
3, 5, 
6 or 7,
fall to be adjusted by reference to any other personal benefit or dependency
benefit, it shall be reduced by the amount which is, or but for these regulations
would be, payable by way of that other benefit both as personal benefit and
as dependency benefit, so however that the amount payable by way of a non-contributory
invalidity pension or an invalid care allowance and that other benefit shall
in no case be less than the sum of the amounts which, but for any adjustment,
would have been payable by way of a non-contributory invalidity pension or
an invalid care allowance as personal benefit and dependency benefit.”
(4) In the Schedule (personal benefits which
are required to be adjusted by reference to benefits not under Chapters I and II of Part II of
the Act), in column (1), after the words “Non-contributory invalidity
pension” in paragraph 1A
there shall be inserted the words “or invalid care allowance”
.
16 
In regulation
31(1)(c) of the Social Security (Determination
of Claims and Questions) Regulations 1975, as amended, (review of decisions involving payment
or increase of benefit other than industrial injuries benefit) after the words 
“attendance allowance,” and before the words “a
child's special allowance” there shall be inserted the words 
“an invalid care allowance”.
17 

(1) The 
Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1975, as amended, shall be further amended in accordance
with the following provisions of this regulation.
(2) In regulation
9 (interchange with claims for other benefits) at the
end of paragraph (5) there
shall be added the words “or an invalid care allowance”
.
(3) In regulation
15 (time and manner of payment of certain pensions
and allowances)—
(a) at the end of 
paragraph (1) the following sub-paragraph shall
be added:—“
(h) invalid care allowance”;

(b) after paragraph
(8) there shall be added the following paragraph:—
“
(8A) Weekly sums on account
of an invalid care allowance shall be payable on Mondays, so however that
where a person is entitled to that allowance in respect of a severely disabled
person by virtue of regulation 3
of the Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations
1976 the invalid care allowance shall be payable
on Wednesdays.”.
(4) In regulation
17 (time and manner of payment of age addition) in 
paragraph (4) for the words “paragraphs (6), (7), 
(10), (11) and (13) of regulation 15
” there shall be substituted
the words “paragraphs
(6), (7), (8A), (10),
(11) and (13) of regulation 15.”
.
(5) In Schedule
1 (prescribed times for claiming benefit)—

(a) after paragraph
1 in columns (1), 
(2) and (3)
there shall be inserted the following paragraph in the respective columns:—
“
1A.Invalid care allowance
 The period of 3 months from the first
day in respect of which the claim is made 
Benefit in respect of any period more than 3 months before the date on which
the claim is made”;
(b) in paragraph
3 of column (1), for the words “or
non-contributory invalidity pension” there shall be substituted
the words “, non-contributory invalidity pension or an invalid
care allowance.”.
(6) In Schedule
3 (benefit for which the claim may be treated
in the alternative)—
(a) in paragraph
3 of column (2), for the words “Sickness
benefit, invalidity benefit, injury benefit, unemployability supplement or
non-contributory invalidity pension” there shall be substituted
the words “Sickness benefit, invalidity benefit, injury benefit,
unemployability supplement, non-contributory invalidity pension or invalid
care allowance.”.
(b) in paragraph
5 of column (2), for the words “An
increase of sickness benefit, invalidity pension or of non-contributory invalidity
pension” there shall be substituted the words “An
increase of sickness benefit, invalidity pension, non-contributory invalidity
pension or of invalid care allowance.”.
18 

(1) Regulation
2(3) of the National Insurance (Graduated
Retirement Benefit and Consequential Provisions) Regulations 1961
(single payments of graduated retirement benefit), which as amended by 
regulation 2 of the Social Security
(Graduated Retirement Benefit) (No. 2) Regulations 1975
has effect as set out in the Schedule to the said regulations of 1975, shall
be further amended by substituting for the words “or a non-contributory
invalidity pension” the words “, a non-contributory
invalidity pension or an invalid care allowance”; and the said 
regulation 2(3) as so further amended shall
have effect as set out in Schedule 2
to these regulations.
(2) The Social
Security (Graduated Retirement Benefit) (No. 2) Regulations 1975
are hereby revoked.
19 
The Social Security
(Credits) Regulations 1975 shall be amended by the insertion of the following
regulation after regulation 7:—
“


7A 

(1) For the purposes of entitlement to any
benefit by virtue of a person's contributions he shall, subject to 
paragraph (2), be entitled to a Class I credit
in respect of each week for any part of which an invalid care allowance is
paid to him, or in the case of a widow, would have been so payable but for
the provisions of the Social Security (Overlapping
Benefits) Regulations 1975, as amended by the 
Social Security (Invalid Care Allowance) Regulations 1976,
requiring adjustment of an invalid care allowance against widow's benefit
or benefit by virtue of section 39(4)
corresponding to a widowed mother's allowance or a widow's pension.
(2) Paragraph
(1) shall not apply—
(a) to a person in respect of any week where
he is entitled to a Class 1 credit under regulation
9 in respect of the same week; or
(b) to a woman in respect of any week in
any part of which she was a married woman in respect of whom an election made
by her under regulations made under section 130(2)
 had effect.”.
20 
In the Social
Security Benefit (Persons Abroad) Regulations 1975, after regulation
10A, added to those regulations by regulation 10
of the Mobility Allowance Regulations 1975, there shall be added the following regulation:—
“
10B 
A person shall not be disqualified for receiving an invalid care
allowance by reason of being absent from Great Britain.”.
21 
In the Social
Security (Widow's Benefit and Retirement Pensions) Regulations 1974, as amended,
in regulation 15(1) (age
addition for persons not in receipt of a retirement pension) after 
sub-paragraph (f) there shall be added the
following sub-paragraph:—“
(g) section 37 of the Social
Security Act 1975 (invalid care allowance).”.
Barbara Castle
Secretary of State for Social Services
15th March 1976
SCHEDULE 1
Regulation 14


Regulation applied Subject matter
(1) (2)
2 Increase of benefit
for wife.
5(2) and (3) Provision as to maintenance.
8(1) Contribution
towards cost of providing for child.
9 Deeming benefit under the
Act abated under section 16(1A)
 of the Supplementary Benefit Act 1966

to be a contribution for the maintenance of children or adult dependants.

11 Exceptions from disqualification for imprisonment, etc.
12 
Suspension of payment of benefit during imprisonment, etc.
13 Interim
payments, arrears and repayments.

14 Set-off of benefit against earlier
payment of dependency benefit.

16 Rounding of sums payable by way of
benefit under Part I
of the Act.
SCHEDULE 2
Regulation 18(1)

(3) The provisions of this regulation shall not
apply to a person unless he does not satisfy the conditions for entitlement
to a Category C or D retirement pension, a non-contributory invalidity pension
or an invalid care allowance and does not satisfy or partially satisfy the
contribution conditions for a Category A or B retirement pension and also,
in the case of a married woman, her husband is over pensionable age and does
not satisfy (or, as the case may be, partially satisfy) any of those conditions.

