The Social Security (Work-focused Interviews) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

Deferment of interview

7.—(1) Except in a case to which paragraph (2) refers, an officer of the Department or of the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment shall arrange for an interview to take place as soon as reasonably practicable after the claim is made or the event which under regulation 5(3) or (4) gives rise to the interview occurs.

(2) This paragraph applies where an officer of the Department or of the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment determines in the case of any particular person that the requirement to take part in an interview shall not apply at the time the claim is made or the event occurs because an interview would not at that time—

(a) be of assistance to that person, or

(b) be appropriate in the circumstances of that case.

(3) An officer of the Department or of the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment who determines in accordance with paragraph (2) that the requirement to take part in an interview shall not apply shall also determine either when that determination is made or later, the time when the requirement to take part in an interview is to apply in the claimant’s case.

(4) Where an interview has been deferred in accordance with this regulation, then until both—

(a) a determination has been made that the claimant is to take part in an interview, and

(b) a determination has been made as to whether the claimant in fact took part in an interview,

he shall be treated for the purposes of any claim for or entitlement to a specified benefit as having complied with any requirement to take part in an interview.