The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 as follows—

Part I deals with citation, commencement and interpretation.

Part II contains amendments which—

(a) extend the circumstances in which a jobseeker’s agreement is treated as having been made (regulation 2);

(b) amend the definition of “young person” in Part IV (regulation 3);

(c) extend the circumstances in which a person is treated as not having left his employment voluntarily (regulation 4) and is regarded as having good cause for his actions (regulation 5);

(d) make provision for the payment of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance to certain persons in receipt of a training allowance (regulation 6).

Part III (which contains miscellaneous amendments) begins with regulation 7 which adds to the definition of remunerative work in regulation 51, work done by a non-dependant of the claimant or a child or young person. It also provides that the hours spent caring for a person who has been awarded attendance allowance or the care component of disability living allowance at one of the 2 higher rates, but is not yet receiving it because of a waiting period, shall not be taken into account in determining the number of hours a person is engaged in remunerative work.

Regulation 8 excludes a person from entitlement to an income-based jobseeker’s allowance if his right to reside or remain in Great Britain is subject to any limitation or condition. It also restricts the payment of urgent case payments of jobseeker’s allowance for people from abroad to asylum seekers who are given permission to work. It also provides a definition of “work permit”.

Regulations 9 and 10 amend the capital limits in respect of people in residential care, nursing homes or other types of residential accommodation by increasing the capital limit to £16,000 and by increasing the amount to be disregarded in the calculation of tariff income to £10,000.

Regulation 11 extends the meaning of “person in hardship” to include carers caring for persons whose award of attendance allowance or the care component of disability living allowance at one of the 2 higher rates takes effect from a future date and to include the disabled child premium in the list of qualifying premiums.

Regulation 12 amends regulation 144 so that a claimant to whom a jobseeker’s allowance is not payable in accordance with Article 21 of the Jobseeker’s (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (“the Order”) is required to provide information about a person alleged to be in hardship.

Regulation 13 relates to the reduction to be made to a claimant’s income-based jobseeker’s allowance in a case where the claimant or a member of the claimant’s family is either pregnant or seriously ill.

Regulation 14 specifies the value “N” for the purposes of regulation 151.

Regulation 15 makes further provision as to the meaning of “week” and “benefit week” in regulation 161 which relates to share fishermen.

Regulation 16 relates to the applicable amount where the claimant or his partner are aged under 18 and are not required to register with the Department of Economic Development.

Regulation 17 makes a minor amendment to paragraph 7 of Schedule 2.

Regulation 18 broadens the disregards for couples and makes a minor amendment to paragraph 1 of Schedule 5.

Articles 6(2) and (5), 11(1) and (10), 14(1) and (4), 15(1), 21(7) and (8) and 22(4), (5) and (6) of, and paragraphs 1, 5, 8, 10, 16 and 17 of Schedule 1 to, the Order, the enabling provisions under which these Regulations are made, are brought into operation on 5th February 1996 by virtue of the Jobseekers (1995 Order) (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 1996 (S.R. 1996 No. 26 (C. 3)). Since these Regulations are made before the end of the period of 6 months from the commencement of the said Articles, they are, accordingly, exempt, by virtue of section 150(5)(a) of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8), from reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.