Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Income Support (General) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and shall come into operation on 7th January 2000.

(2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(4) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Amendment of the Income Support (General) Regulations

2.  In regulation 42 of the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987(5) (notional income)—

(a)in paragraph (3), for “or (3B)” there shall be substituted “, (3B) or (3C)”;

(b)after paragraph (3B)(6) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(3C) This paragraph applies to any earnings which are due to an employed earner on the termination of his employment by reason of redundancy but which have not been paid to him.”.

Amendment of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations

3.—(1) The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(7) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).

(2) In regulation 19(3) (circumstances in which a person is to be treated as actively seeking employment), in the definition of “employment or training programme” after “Department” there shall be inserted “of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment”.

(3) After regulation 105(7)(c) (notional income) there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—

“(d)any earnings which are due to an employed earner on the termination of his employment by reason of redundancy but which have not been paid to him.”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 and the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.

In particular, regulations 2 and 3 of these Regulations provide that earnings of an employed earner which are due but not paid on the termination of his employment by reason of redundancy, shall not be treated as possessed by the claimant for the purposes of ascertaining entitlement respectively to income support or to a jobseeker’s allowance. Regulation 2 also makes a technical amendment.

These Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland 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.