Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) Amendment Regulations 1999.

(2) This regulation and regulation 4 of these Regulations shall come into force on 29th September 1999 and all other regulations shall come into force on 5th October 1999.

(3) In these Regulations, "the principal Regulations" means that National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) Regulations 1988(2).

Amendment of regulation 2 of the principal Regulations

2.-(1) In regulation 2(1) of the principal Regulations (interpretation)

(a)after the definition of "the Act" there shall be inserted the following definition-

""amount withdrawn" means the amount by which the appropriate maximum disabled person's tax credit or working families' tax credit, as the case may be, determined in accordance with section 129(8) or 128(5) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992(3), as the case may be, is reduced by virtue of the claimant's income exceeding the applicable amount;";

(b)for the definition of "disability working allowance" there shall be substituted the following definition-

""disabled person's tax credit" means disabled person's tax credit under section 129 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;";

(c)in the definition of "family" for the words "family credit" and "disability working allowance" there shall be substituted the words "working families' tax credit" and "disabled person's tax credit" respectively.

(d)for the definition of "family credit" there shall be substituted in the appropriate place the following definition-

""working families' tax credit" means working families' tax credit under section 128 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.".

Amendment of regulation 4 of the principal regulations

3.-(1) Regulation 4 of the principal Regulations (description of persons entitled to full remission and payment)(4) shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) For paragraph (c) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

"(c)a person who is in receipt of working families' tax credit with an amount withdrawn of £70 or less,".

(3) For paragraph (d) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

"(d)a member of the same family as a person described in paragraph (c) of this regulation,".

(4) For paragraph (g) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

"(g)a person who is in receipt of disabled person's tax credit with an amount withdrawn of £70 or less,".

Amendment of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations

4.-(1) Table A of Part I of Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations (modification of provisions of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987(5) shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) In the entry in column (2) relating to the entry "regulation 65" in column (1), after the words "student's grant" in both places where they occur, there shall be inserted the words "or student's loan".

Transitional provision

5. Where immediately before 5th October 1999 a person was entitled to remission of charges by virtue of regulation 4(c) or (d) of the principal Regulations (remission by reference to entitlement to family credit) or by virtue of regulation 4(g) or (h) of the principal Regulations (remission by reference to entitlement to disability working allowance), that entitlement shall continue for so long as family credit or disability working allowance, as the case may be, remains in payment.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) Regulations 1988 ("the principal Regulations") which provide for the remission and repayment of certain charges which would otherwise be payable under the National Health Service Act 1977 and for the payment of travelling expenses incurred in attending a hospital.

Regulations 2, 3 and 5 amend the principal Regulations consequent upon the replacement of family credit and disability working allowance by working families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit respectively. Regulation 4 amends the principal Regulations in relation to the calculation of resources in the case of students.