The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996

[F1 PART IA JOINT-CLAIM COUPLES

Textual Amendments

F1 Pt. 1A inserted (19.3.2001) by The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Joint Claims) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/1978), regs. 1(1), 2(2)

Prescribed description of a joint-claim couple for the purposes of section 1(4)

3A.— (1) For the purposes of section 1(4), a joint-claim couple shall include any joint-claim couple within the meaning given in section 1(4) of the Act where at least one member [F2 is aged 18 or over and] was born after 19th March 1976, unless a member of the couple is treated as responsible for a child or young person under regulation 77(3), or the couple has care of a child or young person in one or more of the circumstances mentioned in regulation 78(4), or a child or young person is living with either member of the couple in the circumstances mentioned in regulation 78(8).

(2) In a case where a person would (but for these Regulations) be a member of more than one joint-claim couple, a joint-claim couple means the couple of which he is a member which that person nominates (or in default of such nomination, which the Secretary of State nominates), to the exclusion of any other couple of which he is a member.

Textual Amendments

F2 Words in reg. 3A(1) inserted (19.3.2001) by The Social Security Amendment (Joint Claims) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/518), regs. 1(2), 2(2)

Entitlement of a former joint-claim couple to a jobseeker’s allowance

3B.— (1) Where a joint-claim couple cease to be a joint-claim couple because they become, or are treated as, responsible for one or more children—

(a) any claim made by both members of that couple for a jobseeker’s allowance may be treated as a claim for a jobseeker’s allowance made by either member of that couple;

(b) any award of a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance in respect of that couple may be terminated and may be replaced by a replacement award,

where the conditions specified in paragraph (2) have been complied with.

(2) The conditions specified in this paragraph are that a member of the couple—

(a) provides such evidence as the Secretary of State may require confirming that the couple are responsible for one or more children; and

(b) advises the Secretary of State as to which member of the couple is to be the claimant.

(3) The claim by a member of the couple for a jobseeker’s allowance referred to in paragraph (1)(a) shall be treated as made on the date on which he and his partner were treated as having claimed a jobseeker’s allowance as a joint-claim couple as determined in accordance with regulation 6 of the Claims and Payments Regulations.

(4) In this regulation, “replacement award” shall have the meaning ascribed to it by paragraph 9A of Schedule 1 to the Act.

Entitlement of a new joint-claim couple to a jobseeker’s allowance

3C.— (1) Paragraph (2) shall apply where a couple become a joint-claim couple because the child, or all the children, for which they were responsible have—

(a) died;

(b) ceased to be a child or children for whom they are responsible; or

(c) reached the age of 16 and are no longer receiving full-time education for the purposes of section 142 of the Benefits Act.

(2) In a case to which this paragraph applies—

(a) any claim made by either member of that couple for a jobseeker’s allowance may be treated as a claim made by both members of the couple;

(b) any award of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance, or a replacement award, in respect of either member of that couple may be terminated and may be replaced by a new award in respect of the couple,

where the conditions specified in paragraph (3) have been complied with.

(3) The conditions specified in this paragraph are that the Secretary of State—

(a) has sufficient evidence to decide whether a new award should be made; and

(b) is informed as to which member of the couple is to be the nominated member for the purposes of section 3B.

(4) The claim by both members of the joint-claim couple for a jobseeker’s allowance referred to in paragraph (2)(a) shall be treated as made on the date on which the claim by a member of that couple was treated as made in accordance with regulation 6 of the Claims and Payments Regulations.

(5) For the purposes of paragraphs 6 and 7 of Schedule 2 (housing costs), any award of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance which related to the day before the day on which the relevant event specified in paragraph (1) occurred and any new award referred to in paragraph (2)(b) shall be treated as a continuous award of an income-based jobseeker’s allowance.

(6) In this regulation, “new award” shall have the meaning ascribed to it by paragraph 9C of Schedule 1 to the Act.

Further circumstances in which a joint-claim couple may be entitled to a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance

3D.— (1) Subject to paragraph (2), a joint-claim couple are entitled to a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance where—

(a) the members of that couple claim a jobseeker’s allowance jointly;

(b) one member satisfies the conditions set out in section 1(2)(a) to (c) and (e) to (i); and

[F3 (c) the other member satisfies the condition in section 1(2)(e) and (h) but is not required to satisfy the other conditions in section 1(2B)(b) because, subject to paragraph (3), he is a person to whom any paragraph in Schedule A1 applies; and]

(d) the conditions set out in section 3A are satisfied in relation to the couple.

(2) A member of a joint-claim couple who falls within any paragraph in Schedule A1 for the purposes of this regulation for any day in a benefit week shall fall within that category for the whole of that week.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), paragraph 2 of Schedule A1 (students) may only apply to a member of a joint-claim couple in respect of one claim for a jobseeker’s allowance made jointly by that couple in respect of a jobseeking period applying to the other member of that couple.

(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3), paragraph 2 of Schedule A1 may apply to a member of a joint-claim couple in respect of a further claim for a jobseeker’s allowance made jointly by the couple where the couple’s previous entitlement to a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance ceased because one member of the couple—

(a) was engaged in remunerative work;

(b) had been summoned to jury service; or

(c) was within a linked period as prescribed in regulation 48(2).

Textual Amendments

F3 Reg. 3D(1)(c) substituted (19.3.2001) by The Social Security Amendment (Joint Claims) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/518), regs. 1(2), 2(3)

Entitlement of a member of a joint-claim couple to a jobseeker’s allowance without a claim being made jointly by the couple

3E.— (1) A member of a joint-claim couple is entitled to a jobseeker’s allowance if, without making a claim jointly for that allowance with the other member of the couple—

(a) he satisfies the conditions set out in section 1(2) (a) to (c) and (e) to (i);

(b) he satisfies the conditions set out in section 3; and

(c) the other member of that couple fails to meet the conditions of entitlement set out in section 1(2B)(b) and is a person to whom paragraph (2) applies.

(2) This paragraph applies to a member of a joint-claim couple—

(a) who has failed to attend at the time and place specified by the employment officer for the purposes of regulation 6 of the Claims and Payments Regulations;

(b) in respect of whom it has been determined by the Secretary of State that the conditions in section 1(2)(a) to (c) have not been satisfied but only for so long as it has been so determined in respect of that member;

(c) who is temporarily absent from Great Britain;

(d) who is a person from abroad as defined for the purposes of regulation 85 and Schedule 5;

(e) who is subject to immigration control within the meaning of section 115(9) of the Immigration and Asylum Act;

(f) who is over pensionable age;

(g) who is engaged, or has agreed to be engaged, in remunerative work for [F4 16 hours or more] per week but less than 24 hours per week;

(h) who has claimed a maternity allowance payable in accordance with section 35 of the Benefits Act or who has claimed statutory maternity pay payable in accordance with Part XII of that Act;

(i) who is or has been pregnant and to whom sub-paragraph (h) does not apply but only for the period commencing 11 weeks before the expected week of confinement and ending seven weeks after the date on which the pregnancy ends;

(j) in respect of whom there is an Order in Council under section 179 of the Administration Act giving effect to a reciprocal agreement which, for the purposes of jobseeker’s allowance, has effect as if a payment made by another country is to be treated as a payment of a jobseeker’s allowance; or

(k) who is in receipt of statutory sick pay and who, immediately before he became incapable of work, was engaged in remunerative work for [F5 16 hours or more] per week.

Textual Amendments

F4 Words in reg. 3E(2)(g) substituted (19.3.2001) by The Social Security Amendment (Joint Claims) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/518), regs. 1(2), 2(4)

F5 Words in reg. 3E(2)(k) substituted (19.3.2001) by The Social Security Amendment (Joint Claims) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/518), regs. 1(2), 2(4)

Transitional case couples: prescribed circumstances and period for the purposes of paragraph 8A(2) of Schedule 1

3F.   A transitional case couple shall be entitled to a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance without having made a claim for it jointly for the period beginning on the day on which section 59 of, and Schedule 7 to, the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 comes into force and ending on the day on which the member of the transitional case couple who was not entitled to an income-based jobseeker’s allowance on the coming into force of that Schedule is required to attend at a place specified by an employment officer in a notification given or sent to that member.

Supply of information

3G.   Where a claim for a jobseeker’s allowance has been made jointly by a joint-claim couple, information relating to that claim may be supplied by the Secretary of State to either or both members of that couple for any purpose connected with that claim.]