Conditions for hardship payments
116.—(1) The Secretary of State must make a hardship payment to a single claimant or to joint claimants only where—
(a)the claimant in respect of whose sanctionable failure the award has been reduced under section 26 or 27 of the Act is aged 18 or over;
(b)the single claimant or each joint claimant has met any compliance condition specified by the Secretary of State under regulation 104(2)(a)(i);
(c)the single claimant or either joint claimant completes and submits an application—
(i)approved for the purpose by the Secretary of State, or in such other form as the Secretary of State accepts as sufficient, and
(ii)in such manner as the Secretary of State determines;
(d)the single claimant or either joint claimant furnishes such information or evidence as the Secretary of State may require, in such manner as the Secretary of State determines:
(e)the single claimant or each joint claimant accepts that any hardship payments that are paid are recoverable;
(f)the Secretary of State is satisfied that the single claimant or each joint claimant has complied with all the work-related requirements that they were required to comply with in the 7 days preceding the day on which the claimant or joint claimants submitted an application in accordance with sub-paragraph (c); and
(g)the Secretary of State is satisfied that the single claimant or each joint claimant is in hardship.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g) a single claimant or joint claimants must be considered as being in hardship only where—
(a)they cannot meet their immediate and most basic and essential needs, specified in paragraph (3), or the immediate and most basic and essential needs of a child or qualifying young person for whom the single claimant or either of the joint claimants is responsible, only because the amount of their award has been reduced—
(i)under section 26 or 27 of the Act, by the daily reduction rate set out in regulation 111, or
(ii)by the daily reduction rate prescribed in regulations made under section 6B(5A), 7(2A) or 9(2A) of the Social Security Fraud Act 2001(1) which is equivalent to the rate referred to in paragraph (i);
(b)they have made every effort to access alternative sources of support to meet, or partially meet, such needs; and
(c)they have made every effort to cease to incur any expenditure which does not relate to such needs.
(3) The needs referred to in paragraph (2) are—
(a)accommodation;
(b)heating;
(c)food;
(d)hygiene.
2001 c.11. Section 6B was inserted by section 24(1) of the Welfare Reform Act 2009 and subsection (5A) by paragraph 58(3) of Schedule 5 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012. Subsection (2A) of section 9 was inserted by paragraph 61(4) of Schedule 2 to that Act.