The Social Security (Work-focused Interviews) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Exemptions

7.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), persons who, on the day on which the claim for a specified benefit is made or the requirement to take part in an interview under regulation 3 or 6(2) arises or applies –

(a) are engaged in remunerative work, or

(b) are claiming, or are entitled to, a jobseeker’s allowance,

shall be exempt from the requirement to take part in an interview.

(2) Paragraph 1(b) shall not apply where –

(a) a joint-claim couple (as defined for the purposes of Article 3(4) of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(1)) have claimed a jobseeker’s allowance, and

(b) a member of that couple is a person to whom regulation 3D(1)(c) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(2) (further circumstances in which a joint-claim couple may be entitled to a joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance) applies.

(1)

S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15); the definition of “joint-claim couple” was inserted by Article 56 of and paragraph 3(4)(b) of Schedule 7 to the Welfare Reform and Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1999

(2)

S.R. 1996 No. 198; regulation 3D was inserted by regulation 2(2) of S.R. 2000 No. 350 and amended by regulation 2(3) of S.R. 2001 No. 120