The Social Security (Amendment) (New Deal) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Good cause for the purposes of Article 21(5)(b) of the Order

7.  In regulation 73 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (good cause for the purposes of Article 21(5)(b) of the Order)—

(a)after paragraph (2A)(1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(2B) Without prejudice to any other circumstances in which a person may be regarded as having good cause for any act or omission for the purposes of Article 21(5)(b) of the Order, a person to whom regulation 17A(2) applies, in respect of whom an employment officer has determined that he may undertake a qualifying course, and who is undertaking such a course as a full-time student, is to be regarded as having good cause for any act or omission—

(a)for the purposes of Article 21(5)(b) of the Order where the act or omission was in relation to an employment programme and he was, or would have been, required to attend the employment programme at a time which would have prevented him from attending the qualifying course;

(b)for the purposes of Article 21(5)(b)(iii) and (iv) of the Order where—

(i)the act or omission was in relation to a qualifying course undertaken by him and occurred less than 4 weeks after the first day of the period of study;

(ii)the act or omission was in relation to a qualifying course undertaken by him and was due to his lack of ability, or

(iii)the act or omission was in relation to a qualifying course undertaken by him which was not suitable for him;”;

(b)after paragraph (3) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(4) For the purposes of paragraph (2B)(b)(iii), a qualifying course is suitable for a person if it is suitable for him in vocationally relevant respects, namely his personal capacity, aptitude, his preference, the level of qualification aimed at, duration of the course and proportion of time, if any, which the person has spent on the training in relation to the length of the course.”.