The Social Security (Back to Work Bonus) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Requirements for a bonus

7.—(1) An applicant who has served a waiting period shall be entitled to a bonus where he satisfies any one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (2) to (5).

(2) The first condition is that—

(a) he or his partner has or had earnings of which a part only has been disregarded in determining the amount of those earnings for the purposes of a qualifying benefit;

(b) he or his partner takes up or returns to or increases the number of hours in which in any week he or his partner is engaged in employment or the earnings from an employment in which he or his partner is engaged are increased (“the work condition”), and—

(i) that employment results;

(ii) those earnings result, or

(iii) the increase in the number of hours and an increase in earnings together result,

in entitlement to a qualifying benefit (other than a partner’s entitlement to a contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance) in respect of himself, and where he has a partner, his family, ceasing;

(c) he claims the bonus before the end of a period of 12 weeks immediately following the day in respect of which entitlement to the qualifying benefit ceased as mentioned in sub-paragraph (b), and

(d) in a case where the qualifying benefit to which the applicant was entitled—

(i) was income support, he has not attained the age of 60, or

(ii) was a jobseeker’s allowance, he has not attained pensionable age,

at the time the work condition was satisfied.

(3) The second condition is that—

(a) within 14 days of his ceasing to be entitled to a qualifying benefit he or his partner satisfy the work condition;

(b) had the work condition been satisfied on the day he was last entitled to a qualifying benefit, that entitlement would as a consequence have ceased;

(c) he satisfies the requirements of paragraph (2)(a) and (d), and

(d) he claims the bonus within 12 weeks of his ceasing to be entitled to a qualifying benefit.

(4) The third condition is that—

(a) the applicant has undertaken training;

(b) entitlement to the qualifying benefit ceased in consequence of the payment of a training allowance;

(c) within 14 days of the completion of the training he takes up employment—

(i) of 16 or more hours per week, or

(ii) from which his weekly earnings equal or exceed the amount of the training allowance payable to him in the last week of training;

(d) he claims the bonus before the end of the period of 12 weeks immediately following the day on which the training ceased;

(e) he satisfies the requirements specified in paragraph (2)(a), and

(f) in a case where the qualifying benefit to which the applicant was entitled—

(i) was income support, he has not attained the age of 60, or

(ii) was a jobseeker’s allowance, he has not attained pensionable age,

at the time he took up the employment.

(5) The fourth condition is that—

(a) the applicant is formerly one of a couple who have separated;

(b) at the date of separation, either the applicant or his partner was entitled to a qualifying benefit;

(c) had he been entitled to a qualifying benefit on the day of separation, the amount of the qualifying benefit payable to him would have been less than the applicable amount in his case because of the amount of his earnings;

(d) within 14 days of the separation, he satisfies the work condition and is engaged in employment for 16 hours or more per week;

(e) he satisfies the requirements specified in paragraph (2)(a) and (d), and

(f) he claims the bonus within 12 weeks of the day on which the separation occurred.

(6) For the purpose of determining whether any of the above conditions are satisfied, any change of circumstances other than those specified in the preceding provisions of this regulation which occurred at the same time as a change specified in those provisions and which would of itself have resulted in a loss of entitlement to a qualifying benefit shall be disregarded.

(7) A person who—

(a) claims, or whose partner claims, a qualifying benefit within 12 weeks of the day in respect of which his last previous entitlement to a qualifying benefit ceased, and

(b) has not made and whose partner has not made a claim for a bonus before the claim for the qualifying benefit is made,

shall be treated as not satisfying the requirements of paragraph (2)(c).