Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007

Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007

2007 CHAPTER 2

Schedules

Schedule 2 - Employment and support allowance: supplementary provision

This Schedule contains additional provisions in respect of the employment and support allowance. Paragraph 1 confers powers to provide by regulations for claimants to be treated as having (or not having) limited capability for work, as well as to require capability for work to be determined afresh (or for the first time in the case of a person being treated as having limited capability for work, but who has never actually undergone a determination of capability for work). Paragraph 9 makes equivalent provision in relation to limited capability for work-related activity.

Paragraph 2 provides that a person is not entitled to an employment and support allowance for a certain number of days at the beginning of a period of limited capability for work. It is intended that claimants will be required to wait for three days at the beginning of a period of limited capability for work, before becoming entitled to an employment and support allowance (as now under incapacity benefit). Paragraph 2 also allows that regulations may disapply the waiting days requirement to ensure that the claimant would not have a break in benefit entitlement where, for example, he was previously entitled to another benefit, such as jobseeker’s allowance.

Paragraph 4 provides for periods of limited capability for work to be linked together and treated as one period of limited capability for work. Where periods are linked, regulations can provide that a condition relating to an employment and support allowance that was satisfied in the earlier period of limited capability for work can be treated as satisfied in the later period of limited capability for work.

This Schedule also provides for regulations to prescribe circumstances where people are entitled to an employment and support allowance where they are not in Northern Ireland (for example, where they live abroad or are employed on a ship or oil rig) (paragraphs 5 to 8) and other additional matters.