“public holiday” means, as the case may be, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a Bank Holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 M1 or in Scotland local holidays; and “Christmas and New Year holidays” and “Good Friday and Easter Monday” shall be construed accordingly and shall in each case be treated as one period;

“office closure” means a period during which an F2office of the Department for Education and Employment or associated office is closed in connection with a public holiday;

in computing any period of time Sundays shall not be disregarded.

a claim for F4a jobseeker’s allowance may be treated by F5the Secretary of State as a claim for that benefit for a period, to be specified in his decision, not exceeding 35 days after the date of the claim where that claim is made during the period specified in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (3), or 21 days after the date of claim where the claim is made during the period specified in either sub-paragraph (b) or (c) of paragraph (3);

on any claim so treated, benefit may be awarded as if the provisions of paragraph (4) of regulation 17 applied.

in the case of Christmas and New Year holidays, a period beginning with the start of the 35th day before the first day of office closure and ending at midnight between the last day of office closure and the following day;

in the case of Good Friday and Easter Monday, a period beginning with the start of the 16th day before the first day of the office closure and ending at midnight between the last day of office closure and the following day;

in the case of any other public holiday, a period beginning with the start of the 14th day before the first day of office closure and ending at midnight between the last day of office closure and the following day.