The Law Relating to Social Security

Introduction

1. This electronic version of the loose-leaf work, entitled "The Law Relating to Social Security", sets out the current provisions relating to social security (but excluding war pensions). The work is known as the Blue Volumes.
2. The full work is divided into 13 volumes as follows:

   Volume	Contents
   Volume 1	Acts and Statutory Instruments (SIs) relating to matters common to both contributory benefits and income-related benefits (adjudication, claims and payments, overpayments, recoupment, forfeiture, uprating, etc). Volume 1 is divided into 2 parts. Part I contains the contents pages and Acts and Part II contains S.I.s.
   Volume 2	Acts relating to social security (including statutory sick pay and statutory maternity pay), other than those specified for other volumes.
   Volume 3	SIs (other than those covered by volume 4) made under the Acts in Volume 2. Volume 3 is divided into two Parts, kept in separate binders. Part I covers subjects A-F, and Part II covers subjects G-Z.
   Volume 4	SIs made under the Volume 2 Acts relating to Industrial Injuries, "Old Cases", statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, vaccine damage payments, and child benefit.
   Volume 5	Acts and SIs relating to occupational and personal pensions, and to contracting-out of the state earnings-related pension scheme and out of the former graduated pension scheme. Volume 5 is divided into two Parts, kept in separate binders. Part I contains the Contents pages and Acts and, in an Appendix, the destinations of provisions repealed by and re-enacted in the Pension Schemes Act 1993 (c.48); Part II contains SIs.
   Volume 6	Acts relating to the income-related benefits (including income support, family credit, and disability working allowance) and to the social fund, and SIs relating to income support and the social fund.
   Volume 7	SIs relating to family credit and disability working allowance.
   Volume 8	Acts and SIs relating to community charge benefits, council tax benefit and housing benefit. Volume 8 is divided into two Parts, kept in separate binders. Part II contains statutory instruments relating to subsidy, and Part I contains all other provisions.
   Volume 9	European Community (EC) provisions applying to social security in the United Kingdom; social security arrangements with N. Ireland and Gibraltar; and social security conventions with EC Member States. Volume 9 is divided into two Parts, kept in separate binders. Part I contains EC Regulations and Directives, and Part II contains national agreements and arrangements within the EC.
   Volume 10	Other international bilateral or multilateral conventions applying to social security.
   Volume 11	Acts and SIs relating to jobseekers allowance.
   Volume 12	Acts and SIs relating to state pension credit.
   Volume 13	Acts and SIs relating to employment and support allowance
   "Acts" in the above list sometimes means extracts only, where only part of an Act is relevant to the volume in question.

3. Subject to a few exceptions, this work does not reproduce provisions superseded at or before its latest supplement.
4. The work is kept up to date by the publication of periodical loose-leaf supplements for incorporation in the main body of the work.
5. Volumes and supplements are on sale in the following nine sets:
   • Contents Volume and Volume 1
   • Volumes 2 to 4
   • Volume 5
   • Volumes 6 and 7
   • Volume 8
   • Volumes 9 and 10
   • Volume 11
   • Volume 12
   • volume 13
6. People taking Volumes 2-4 (contributory etc benefits) also need Volume 1(common provisions). Volume l is also needed for those taking Volumes 6 and 7 (income support, family credit, disability working allowance and social fund). Volume 5 stands on its own for purposes of personal or occupational pensions; and Volume 8 stands on its own for community charge benefits, council tax benefit and housing benefit purposes. Volumes 9 and 10 have a close link with Volumes 1-4, but also have links with other volumes.
7. Volumes and supplements are available only in the sets mentioned in paragraph 5 above. Corporate Document Services will accept standing orders for the supply of supplements, as and when they are published, in any of the above sets or any combination of them. They can be contacted on 0113 399 4000.
8. Each supplement, even if it affects only a few volumes, is identified by a separate serial number, and shows the month to which its issue relates. People not holding all volumes may not therefore need or receive every numbered supplement. The covering sheet for the next supplement they receive will explain the gap in numbering.
9. Generally the text of this work represents those provisions which were in force at the date when the latest supplement went to press, or were due to come into force very shortly afterwards. Provisions and amendments which have been repealed or revoked or otherwise superseded, and provisions which simply amend an earlier measure without special savings, are not normally reproduced. In the case of the latter provisions, the earlier measure (unless it is outside the scope of these volumes) will itself be reproduced in its new amended form together with an annotation.
10. The deletion or omission of provisions is generally explained in footnotes or crossnotes or, if indicated (in an Act) by a row of dots, in the list of omissions at Annex 1 to that Act. Annex 2 to an Act deals with its commencement. Annex 3 is provided for consolidating Acts dated 1992 or later; it indicates the old provisions from which the new provisions are derived.
11. Acts which are not reproduced in this work but which remain in force are included in the lists at Appendix A in the Contents Volume. Acts repealed in the last 10 years are also included in Appendix A. Appendix B contains S.I.'s no longer reproduced in the volumes. Appendix C is not currently in use. Appendix D, which relates to the consolidating social security Acts of 1992, provides a table of destinations of provisions which were included in earlier Acts but which were repealed by, and re-enacted in, the consolidating Acts. A table of destinations of provisions repealed by, and re-enacted in, the consolidating Pension Schemes Act 1993 (c.48) (occupational and personal pensions and contracting-out) is given in the Appendix to Part I of Volume 5.
12. The work aims to reflect all textual amendments which have come into force. It does not however purport to reflect all blanket amendments (e.g., amendments required by Transfer of Functions Orders, etc.), or amendments to references in SIs to provisions which are affected by a consolidation of an Act or of another SI. Where references in SIs to pre-1992 statutory provisions have been affected by the 1992 consolidation of social security Acts, the reader may find Appendix D in this volume helpful in tracing the appropriate new reference. Likewise, the Appendix to Part I of Volume 5 may be helpful in regard to references in SIs to pre-1993 legislation affected by the 1993 consolidation of pension schemes legislation.
13. A supplement will generally be issued soon after the changes effected by the new provisions covered by it are commenced. New provisions which have been passed or made but which have not yet come into force will also be included in a supplement where, for example, there is a need for practitioners to consult them for implementation or planning purposes. Provisions not yet commenced are printed in italic sanserif, to distinguish them from provisions which have come into force for any purpose (other than purely for making subordinate legislation), which are printed in normal Roman type.
14. Superseded provisions which are transitionally or permanently saved (e.g. for particular purposes, particular people or particular situations) are normally retained in the text together with explanatory annotations if the savings are substantial. Where however the savings are of a common form or obvious nature, or of limited application or minor importance, the saved provisions are not normally retained in the text, though the fact that there are savings is normally mentioned in the annotation, and sometimes the saving provision is reproduced in the text or summarised in the annotation. Where both the up-to-date version and a transitionally saved earlier version of the same provision are reproduced, the latter is in small sanserif type.
15. Provisions which have been repealed or revoked but which are needed in order to understand other provisions which remain in force are reproduced in small Roman type, suitably annotated.
16. Footnotes in SIs are normally reproduced but are occasionally omitted or abridged (to avoid duplication with other annotations) or expanded editorially (with the editorial additions appearing inside square brackets). Apart from any such editorial additions the footnotes apply as at the date the SI was made.
17. Each page number in Volumes 1 to 13 consists of two figures, the first indicating the volume number, and the second the page number within that volume.
18. This introduction is included in this volume only (Contents Volume). But, subject to the exceptions mentioned below, each of Volumes 1 to 11, 12 and 13 includes:
    • a list of abbreviations and symbols
    • an indexed chronological list of any statutes included in that volume (but not in Volumes 3, 4, 7, 9 or 10)
    • an indexed list of SIs included in it, in alphabetical order of the words in their title which indicate their subject matter (but not in Volumes 2 or 7)
    • a chronological list of SIs included in it (not in Volume 2)
    • a leaf, for recording amendments, is placed at the end of each of the eight sets of volumes - i.e. at the end of Volumes l, 4, 5 (Part II), 7, 8 (Part II), 11, 12 and 13.
19. This volume also includes the following lists
    • an indexed chronological list of all statutes wholly or partly reproduced anywhere in the whole work
    • an indexed list of all SIs so reproduced, or included in Appendix B to this Volume, set out in alphabetical order of the words in their title which indicate their subject matter
    • an indexed chronological list of all such SIs (this list also includes Commencement Orders not reproduced in this work but made under an Act which is so reproduced)
    • a list of EC instruments reproduced in this work (these are all in Volume 9)
    • a list (Appendix A) of recent Acts relating to social security which are not reproduced in this work; this consists mainly of Acts which have become spent, or have been repealed in the last 10 years
    • a list (Appendix B) of SIs which are not reproduced because they are either no longer in force or they simply amend other provisions.
    • a table (Appendix D) of destinations of former provisions repealed by, and re-enacted in, the consolidating social security Acts of 1992.
20. In each volume, Acts are arranged in chronological order. SIs are arranged, within their broad groupings, in alphabetical order of key words (broadly indicating their subject matter) within the title of the instrument; the key words are in large bold print in the title at the head of each page of the instrument. SIs with the same key words are arranged in chronological order.
21. As this work reproduces mostly legislation currently in force, it is left to recipients of this work to decide whether they need to retain those pages which are due to be discarded under a supplement's instructions.
22. This work does not claim to be authority for any legislative provision. It seeks to avoid anything which might be taken as a comment on, or interpretation of, a statute or other instrument. Thus material which appears to be misprinted or mispunctuated may be an exact reproduction of material as published. Even so, we would be grateful to be told of any errors which readers may spot. Initial contact by telephone would be appreciated to the Editor (currently Maxine Taylor ) on 0113 232 4916

DWP
DMA Division Publications
Room GS36
Quarry House
Quarry Hill
Leeds
LS2 7UB

Return to Contents