The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Interpretation of Part IV

57.—(1) In this Part—

“child benefit extension period” means—

(a)

in the case of a person who ceases to be treated as a child by virtue of section 138(1)(a) of the Benefits Act (meaning of “child”) or regulation 7 of the Child Benefit Regulations (circumstances in which a person who has ceased to receive full-time education is to continue to be treated as a child)—

(i)

on or after the first Monday in September, but before the first Monday in January of the following year, the period ending with the last day of the week which falls immediately before the week which includes the first Monday in January in that year;

(ii)

on or after the first Monday in January but before the Monday following Easter Monday in that year, the period ending with the last day of the week which falls 12 weeks after the week which includes the first Monday in January in that year;

(iii)

at any other time of the year, the period ending with the last day of the week which falls 12 weeks after the week which includes the Monday following Easter Monday in that year;

(b)

in the case of a person who was not treated as a child by virtue of section 138(1)(a) of the Benefits Act immediately before he was 16 and who has not been treated as a child by virtue of regulation 7 of the Child Benefit Regulations (interruption of full-time education), the period ending with the date determined in accordance with head (i) as if he had ceased full-time education on the first date on which education ceased to be compulsory for a person of his age in Northern Ireland,

and in this paragraph “week” means a period of 7 days beginning with and including a Monday and “year” means a period of 12 months beginning on and including 1st January;

“chronically sick or mentally or physically disabled” has the same meaning as in regulation 13(3)(b) of the Income Support Regulations (circumstances in which persons in relevant education may be entitled to income support);

“full-time education” has the same meaning as in regulation 1 of the Child Benefit Regulations;

“suitable training” means training which is suitable for that young person in vocationally relevant respects, namely his personal capacity, aptitude, his preference, the preference of the training provider, the level of approved qualification aimed at, duration of the training, proximity and prompt availability of the training;

“training” in Articles 5, 18 and 19 of the Order and in this Part except in regulation 65 read with Article 9 of the Order and except in the phrase “suitable training” means training for which persons aged under 18 are eligible and for which persons aged 18 to 24 may be eligible provided in Northern Ireland directly or indirectly by a Training Organisation pursuant to its arrangement with the Department of Economic Development whether that agreement is known as an Operating Agreement or by any other name;

“treatment” means treatment for a disease or bodily or mental disablement by or under the supervision of a person qualified to provide medical treatment, physiotherapy or a form of treatment which is similar to, or related to, either of those forms of treatment;

“young person” means a person who has reached the age of 16 but not the age of 18 and who does not satisfy the conditions in Article 4 of the Order.

(2) A young person falls within this paragraph if he is—

(a) a member of a married couple where the other member of that couple—

(i) has reached the age of 18;

(ii) is a young person who has registered for employment and training in accordance with regulation 62, or

(iii) is a young person to whom paragraph (4) applies;

(b) a person who has no parent nor any person acting in the place of his parents;

(c) a person who—

(i) is not living with his parents nor any person acting in the place of his parents;

(ii) immediately before he attained the age of 16 was—

(aa) being looked after by the Department pursuant to a relevant enactment which placed him with some person other than a close relative of his, or

(bb) in custody in any institution to which the Prison (Northern Ireland) Act 1953(1) applies;

(d) a person who is in accommodation which is other than his parental home and which is other than the home of a person acting in the place of his parents, who entered that accommodation—

(i) as part of a programme of rehabilitation or resettlement, that programme being under the supervision of the probation service or the Department;

(ii) in order to avoid physical or sexual abuse, or

(iii) because of a mental or physical handicap or illness and he needs such accommodation because of his handicap or illness;

(e) a person who is living away from his parents and any person who is acting in the place of his parents in a case where his parents are or, as the case may be, that person is, unable financially to support him and his parents are, or that person is—

(i) chronically sick or mentally or physically disabled;

(ii) detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court, or

(iii) prohibited from entering or re-entering Northern Ireland;

(f) a person who of necessity has to live away from his parents and any person acting in the place of his parents because—

(i) he is estranged from his parents and that person;

(ii) he is in physical or moral danger, or

(iii) there is a serious risk to his physical or mental health.

(3) In this regulation any reference to a person acting in the place of a person’s parents includes a reference to the Department, any other government department or voluntary organisation where the person is in their care under a relevant enactment, or to a person with whom the person is boarded out by the Department or voluntary organisation whether or not any payment is made by them.

(4) This paragraph applies to—

(a) a person who falls under any of the following paragraphs of Schedule 1B to the Income Support Regulations(2)—

• paragraph 1 (lone parents)

• paragraph 2 (single person looking after foster children)

• paragraph 3 (persons temporarily looking after another person)

• paragraph 4 (persons caring for another person)

• paragraph 10 (disabled students)

• paragraph 11

• paragraph 12 (deaf students)

• paragraph 13 (blind persons)

• paragraph 14 (pregnancy)

• paragraph 15 (persons in education)

• paragraph 18 (refugees)

• paragraph 21 (persons from abroad)

• paragraph 23 (member of couple looking after children while other member temporarily abroad)

• paragraph 28 (persons in receipt of a training allowance);

(b) a person who is a member of a couple and is treated as responsible for a child who is a member of his household;

(c) a person who is laid off or kept on short-time, who is available for employment in accordance with Article 8 of the Order and Chapter II of Part II read with regulation 64 and who has not been laid off or kept on short-time for more than 13 weeks;

(d) a person who is temporarily absent from Northern Ireland because he is taking a member of his family who is a child or young person abroad for treatment, and who is treated as being in Northern Ireland in accordance with regulation 50(1)(b) (persons temporarily absent from Northern Ireland) or whose entitlement to income support is to continue in accordance with regulation 4(3) of the Income Support Regulations and who is not claiming a jobseeker’s allowance or income support;

(e) a person who is incapable of work and training by reason of some disease or bodily or mental disablement if, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, that incapacity is unlikely to end within 12 months because of the severity of that disease or disablement.

(1)

1953 c. 18 (N.I.)

(2)

Schedule 1B is inserted by regulation 22 of, and Schedule 1 to, S.R. 1996 No. 199