Catalogue description Social Security Advisory Committee: Agendas, Minutes and Papers

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) was created in November 1980 following the Social Security Act 1980. Its functions combined those of the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the National Insurance Advisory Committee; the SSAC also assumed responsibility for advisory functions concerning family income supplement and child benefits, which had not previously come within the scope of any advisory committee. The SSAC's responsibilities were further extended by the Social Security and Housing Benefits Act 1992 to include advising on the housing benefit scheme introduced by that act. SSAC replaced the Advisory Committee on Rent Rebates and Rent Allowances on its abolition in April 1983.

The SSAC is responsible for advising on social security policy issues, and for considering and reporting on social security regulations and related matters referred to it by the Secretary of State for Social Services or the Northern Ireland Department of Health and Social Services. Its remit does not include benefits in reparation for industrial injuries, war pensions or occupational pensions (all of which fall under the aegis of other advisory bodies). Similarly, it does not advise on matters which, though they may interrelate with social security benefit, are not the responsibility of the Department of Social Security.

The committee comprises a chairman and thirteen other members. One member has to be elected as a representative of employers' interests and another as representative of employees' interests; a third member must be selected in consultation with the Northern Ireland Department of Health and Social Services. The committee is also required to have at least one member who should have experience of work amongst (and the needs of), chronically ill or disabled people.