The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987

Circumstances in which claimants are not to be treated as available for employment

10.—(1) A claimant shall not be treated as available for employmentif he is a person to whom any one of the following sub-paragraphs applies—

(a)after a situation in any suitable employment has been properly notified to him as vacant or about to become vacant he has without good cause refused or failed to apply for that situation or refused to accept that situation when offered to him, and that situation is still vacant or open to application;

(b)he has neglected to avail himself of a reasonable opportunity of suitable employment and that opportunity is still available to him;

(c)he has failed to avail himself of a reasonable opportunity of short-term work which is available in the area in which he lives, and—

(i)he is aged 18 or over but under 45;

(ii)his partner, if any, is aged under 45;

(iii)there is no child or young person who is a member of his family;

(iv)his partner or, as the case may be, the claimant herself is not pregnant; and

(v)neither he nor his partner, if any, is mentally or physically disabled;

(d)he has placed restrictions on the nature, hours, rate of remuneration or locality or other conditions of employment which he is prepared to accept and as a consequence of those restrictions he has no reasonable prospects of securing employment; but this sub-paragraph shall not apply where—

(i)he is prevented from having reasonable prospects of securing employment consistent with those restrictions only as a result of adverse industrial conditions in the locality or localities concerned which may reasonably be regarded as temporary, and, having regard to all the circumstances, personal and other, the restrictions which he imposes are reasonable; or

(ii)the restrictions are nevertheless reasonable in view of his physical condition; or

(iii)the restrictions are nevertheless reasonable having regard both to the nature of his usual occupation and also to the time which has elapsed since he became unemployed;

(e)having failed to comply with a written notice given or sent to him by or on behalf of the Secretary of State or the Manpower Services Commission requesting him to report at a specified time, place and date to an officer of the Department of Health and Social Security, the Department of Employment, the Manpower Services Commission or a local education authority for an interview in connection with his prospects of employment, he fails without good cause to comply with the requirements of a further notice given or sent to him within 14 days of the date specified in the first notice by or on behalf of the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the Manpower Services Commission and requesting him to report as aforesaid at a time, place and date specified in the further notice for the purpose of such an interview;

(f)he has been disallowed unemployment benefit on the ground that he failed to claim in the manner prescribed by regulation 4 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987(1) (making a claim for benefit) by virtue of the fact that the form approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of claiming was not duly completed so far as it related to his availability for employment; or

(g)he is a share fisherman within the meaning of the Social Security (Mariners' Benefits) Regulations 1975(2) who is not entitled to unemployment benefit under the Social Security Act because he has failed to satisfy the additional condition for receipt of that benefit in paragraph (5) or (8) of regulation 8 of those Regulations (that he performed no work as a sea-going or on-shore share fisherman and that he has not neglected to avail himself of a reasonable opportunity of employment as a fisherman);

(h)he is a student during the period of study other than one to whom paragraph 1, 2, 7 or 20 of Schedule 1 applies (persons not required to be available for employment) but in the case of paragraph 20 only where the student is a person to whom regulation 70(3)(a) applies (certain persons from abroad).

(2) A determination that a claimant is not to be treated as available for employment—

(a)under paragraph (1)(a), shall apply for a period not exceeding—

(i)the period during which the situation in question remains vacant; or

(ii)13 weeks,

whichever is the shorter;

(b)under paragraph (1)(b), shall apply for a period not exceeding—

(i)the period during which the opportunity is still available to him; or

(ii)13 weeks,

whichever is the shorter;

(c)under paragraph (1)(c)—

(i)shall not apply until the claimant has been given 14 days' notice in writing and that period has expired, and then

(ii)shall apply for a period not exceeding the period during which the opportunity is still available to him or, if shorter, the period of 13 weeks;

(d)under paragraph (1)(d), shall apply for so long as the claimant has no reasonable prospect of employment as a consequence of the restrictions referred to in that paragraph;

(e)under paragraph (1)(e), shall apply on the day specified in the further notice and any subsequent day falling before the day on which the claimant reports to an officer of the Department of Health and Social Security, the Department of Employment, the Manpower Services Commission or a local education authority at the place specified in the notice and there attends an interview in connection with his prospects of employment or before the day on which the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the Manpower Services Commission rescinds the further notice, whichever event first occurs;

(f)under paragraph (1)(f), shall apply for so long as the claimant fails to claim in the manner referred to in that paragraph;

(g)under paragraph (1)(g) or (h), shall apply for so long as that paragraph continues to apply to him.

(3) In this regulation—

(a)employment shall not be deemed to be employment suitable in the case of any claimant if it is employment to which subsection (4) of section 20 of the Social Security Act (employment not to be deemed suitable for purposes of that section) applies;

(b)“properly notified” means notified by an officer acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, or by the Manpower Services Commission, a local education authority or some other recognised agency, or by or on behalf of an employer.