The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2012

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (“the 1987 Regulations”), the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 (“the 1996 Regulations”), the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999 (“the 1999 Regulations”) and the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 (“the 2008 Regulations”).

Regulation 2 amends the 1987 Regulations in relation to a person who is in receipt of income support (‘IS’) who is a member of the Territorial Army or another reserve force or whose partner is a member of one of those forces.

Regulation 2(3) provides that earnings derived from participation as a member of the reserve forces in annual continuous training, whether paid alone or together with other earnings derived from the same source, are to be taken into account, for the purpose of entitlement to IS, for a period of the same duration as the training undertaken, except where the training exceeds 14 days, in which case they must be taken into account over a period of 14 days. The period over which the earnings are to be taken into account begins on the date on which the earnings are treated as having been paid in accordance with regulation 31 of the 1987 Regulations.

Regulation 2(4) provides that earnings derived from participation in annual continuous training will be disregarded to the extent that they would have the effect (when aggregated with any other income) of reducing a claimant’s entitlement to IS to less than 10 pence per week. This ensures that claimants in receipt of IS can retain a minimum entitlement to that benefit in the weeks in which their or their partner’s earnings for participation in annual training are taken into account.

Regulation 3 amends the 1996 Regulations.

Regulation 3(2) amends regulation 50 of those Regulations so that a person who is taking part in annual continuous training, as a member of the territorial or reserve forces, for a period not exceeding 15 days in any calendar year, will be treated as being in Great Britain, for the purpose of entitlement to a jobseeker’s allowance (‘JSA’), when temporarily absent from Great Britain for the purpose of the training, provided the person or their partner was entitled to JSA immediately before the period of absence.

Regulation 3(3) amends regulation 72 of the 1996 Regulations to remove text that was inserted in error by the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2012. The amendment has the effect that a claimant will not generally be able to show good cause for certain employment related failures or for failing to carry out a jobseeker’s direction, irrespective of their period of entitlement to a jobseeker’s allowance, if the reason for the failure is that the time it took, or would have taken them to travel from home to the employment or place mentioned in the jobseeker’s direction and back, by an appropriate route and means, is less than one hour and thirty minutes either way.

Regulation 3(4) revokes regulation 74A of the 1996 Regulations which provides that income-based JSA is payable to a claimant even though section 19 of the Jobseekers Act 1995 (“the 1995 Act”) prevents payment, if the claimant is in receipt of a training allowance, subject to certain conditions. This provision is no longer required under the new sanctions regime for jobseekers to be implemented by regulations under new sections 19, 19A and 19B of the 1995 Act (inserted by section 46 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012).

Regulation 3(5) amends regulation 94(2C)(a) of the 1996 Regulations to remove text that was inserted in error by the Jobseeker’s Allowance (Members of the Reserve Forces) Regulations 2012 concerning the period over which earnings are to be taken into account which are received by a claimant who participates in annual continuous training of 15 days as a member of the territorial or reserve forces.

Regulation 4 amends the 1999 Regulations. It adds a new provision to allow a decision awarding JSA to be revised where the Secretary of State makes a decision to reduce a claimant’s award of JSA under regulation 69B of the 1996 Regulations (regulation 69B sets out the circumstances in which an award of JSA may be reduced after a previous disentitlement).

Regulation 5 amends the 2008 Regulations. It does so in relation to employment and support allowance in the same way as regulation 2 amends the 1987 Regulations but only in relation to earnings of a claimant’s partner derived from participation in annual continuous training as a member of the territorial or reserve forces.

A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business or the voluntary sector.