12.—(1) A claimant is to be treated as not having complied with a work search requirement to take all reasonable action for the purpose of obtaining paid work in any week unless—
(a)either—
(i)for the purpose of obtaining paid work, the claimant takes action for the claimant's expected hours per week minus any relevant deductions; or
(ii)the Department is satisfied that the claimant has taken all reasonable action for the purpose of obtaining paid work despite the number of hours that the claimant spends taking such action being lower than the expected number of hours per week; and
(b)that action gives the claimant the best prospects of obtaining work.
(2) In this regulation “relevant deductions” means the total of any time agreed by the Department—
(a)for the claimant to carry out paid work in that week;
(b)for the claimant to carry out voluntary work in that week;
(c)for the claimant to carry out a work preparation requirement, or voluntary work preparation, in that week; or
(d)for the claimant to deal with temporary child care responsibilities, a domestic emergency, funeral arrangements or other temporary circumstances.
(3) For the purpose of paragraph (2)(b) the time agreed by the Department for the claimant to carry out voluntary work must not exceed 50% of the claimant's expected number of hours per week.