The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987

Changes to legislation:

The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987, Section 5 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 25 December 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.

Changes to Legislation

Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area. Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the legislation in the affected provisions. Use the ‘more’ link to open the changes and effects relevant to the provision you are viewing.

View outstanding changes

Changes and effects yet to be applied to Regulation 5:

Regulations amendment to earlier affecting provision S.S.I. 2003/460, sch. Pt. 2 Table B by S.S.I. 2024/311 reg. 11

Persons treated as engaged in remunerative workE+W+S

5.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, for the purposes of section 20(3)(c) of the Act (conditions of entitlement to income support), remunerative work is work in which a person is engaged, or, where his hours of work fluctuate, he is engaged on average, for [F1not less than 16 hours] a week being work for which payment is made or which is done in expectation of payment.

[F2(1A) In the case of any partner of the claimant paragraph (1) shall have effect as though for the words “16 hours" there were substituted the words “24 hours".]

(2) [F3Subject to paragraph (3B),] the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work shall be determined—

(a)where no recognisable cycle has been established in respect of a person's work, by reference to the number of hours or, where those hours are likely to fluctuate, the average of the hours, which he is expected to work in a week;

(b)where the number of hours for which he is engaged fluctuate, by reference to the average of hours worked over—

(i)if there is a recognisable cycle of work, the period of one complete cycle (including, where the cycle involves periods in which the person does no work, those periods but disregarding any other absences);

(ii)in any other case, the period of five weeks immediately before the date of claim or the date [F4on which a superseding decision is made under section 10 (decisions superseding earlier decisions) of the Social Security Act 1998], or such other length of time as may, in the particular case, enable the person's average hours of work to be determined more accurately.

(3) A person shall be treated as engaged in remunerative work during any period for which he is absent from work referred to in paragraph (1) if the absence is either without good cause or by reason of a recognised, customary or other holiday.

[F5(3A) A person shall not be treated as engaged in remunerative work on any day on which the person is on maternity leave [F6, paternity leave [F7, adoption leave [F8, shared parental leave or parental bereavement leave]]] or is absent from work because he is ill.]

[F9(3B) Where for the purpose of paragraph (2)(b)(i), a person’s recognisable cycle of work at a school, other educational establishment or other place of employment is one year and includes periods of school holidays or similar vacations during which he does not work, those periods and any other periods not forming part of such holidays or vacations during which he is not required to work shall be disregarded in establishing the average hours for which he is engaged in work.]

(4) A person who makes a claim and to whom or whose partner section 23 of the Act (trade disputes) applies [F10or applied] shall, for the period of seven days following the date on which the stoppage of work due to a trade dispute at his or his partner's place of work commenced or, if there is no stoppage, the date on which he or his partner first withdrew his labour in furtherance of a trade dispute, be treated as engaged in remunerative work.

(5) [F11Subject to paragraph (5A), a person] who was, or was treated as being, engaged in remunerative work and in respect of that work earnings to which [F12regulation [F1335(1)(b) and (d)]] (earnings of employed earners) applies are [F14paid] shall be treated as being engaged in remunerative work for the period for which those earnings are taken into account in accordance with Part V.

[F15(5A) Paragraph (5) shall not apply to earnings disregarded under paragraph 1 of Schedule 8 to these regulations.]

[F16(6) For the purposes of this regulation, in determining the number of hours in which a person is engaged or treated as engaged in remunerative work, no account shall be taken of any hours in which the person is engaged in an employment or a scheme to which [F17regulation 6(1)] (persons not treated as engaged in remunerative work) applies.]

[F18(7) For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2), in determining the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work, that number shall include any time allowed to that person by his employer for a meal or for refreshment, but only where that person is, or expects to be, paid earnings in respect of that time.]

F19(8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F19(9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F19(10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F1Sch. 9 para. 19 substituted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(3) of the amending S.I.) by The Income-related Benefits Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/527), regs. 1(1)(b), 9(3)

F2Reg. 5(1A) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(6) of the amending S.I.) by The Income-related Benefits Schemes and Social Fund (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1944), regs. 1(1)(a), 6(4) (with reg. 13)

F3Words in reg. 5(2) inserted (10.4.1995) by The Income-related Benefits Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/516), regs. 1(1)(a), 19(a) (with reg. 1(2))

F4Words in reg. 5(2)(b)(ii) substituted (29.11.1999) by The Social Security Act 1998 (Commencement No. 12 and Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/3178), reg. 3(1)(a), Sch. 5 para. 1 (with reg. 3(1)(b), Schs. 21-23)

F5Reg. 5(3A) inserted (with effect in accordance with reg. 1(2) of the amending S.I.) by The Income-related Benefits Schemes (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 1993 (S.I. 1993/2119), regs. 1(1)(a), 3(2)

F6Words in reg. 5(3A) inserted (8.12.2002) by The Social Security (Paternity and Adoption) Amendment Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2689), regs. 1(1)(b), 2(3)

F7Words in reg. 5(3A) substituted (31.12.2014) by The Shared Parental Leave and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/3255), arts. 1(2), 5(3)

F8Words in reg. 5(3A) substituted (6.4.2020) by The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/354), regs. 1, 5(3)