Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and shall come into operation on 25th March 1999.

Amendment of regulation 25 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations

2.  In regulation 25 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(2) (entitlement ceasing on failure to comply)—

(a)in paragraph (1)(a) after “requiring attendance under” there shall be inserted “an employment programme or”;

(b)in paragraph (1)(b) for head (i) there shall be substituted the following head—

“(i)the claimant attends on the day specified in a notice under regulation 23 but fails to attend at the time specified in that notice (other than a notice requiring attendance under an employment programme or a training scheme), and the Department has informed the claimant in writing that a failure to attend, on the next occasion on which he is required to attend, at the time specified in such a notice may result in his entitlement to a jobseeker’s allowance ceasing, and”;

(c)for paragraph (2) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(2) In this regulation, “an employment programme” and “a training scheme” have the meaning given in regulation 75.”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (“the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations”).

In particular they provide that where a claimant who is required to attend at a place and time specified in a notice under regulation 23 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (for example, a fortnightly attendance at an office of the Department of Health and Social Services) attends on the right day but at the wrong time, his entitlement will cease if, having then received a written warning, he attends at the wrong time again on the next due date. The effect of these Regulations is also to clarify that if a claimant fails to attend on the required day at all, his entitlement may cease without him receiving a written warning. These Regulations do not apply to attendance on an employment programme or training scheme because such a failure to attend is the subject of separate Regulations.

They also make 2 technical amendments to regulation 25 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations.

These Regulations make provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Security in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (c. 8), are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.