The Secretary of State may refuse to provide support for a person under a provision specified in subsection (2) on the grounds that an offer has been made to the person of support under another provision specified in that subsection.
The provisions are—
sections 17 and 24 of this Act,
section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (accommodation for person temporarily admitted or released from detention), and
sections 95 and 98 of that Act (support for destitute asylum-seeker).
In deciding under which of the provisions listed in subsection (2) to offer support to a person the Secretary of State may—
have regard to administrative or other matters which do not concern the person's personal circumstances;
regard one of those matters as conclusive;
apply different criteria to different persons for administrative reasons (which may include the importance of testing the operation of a particular provision).