The Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996

Persons treated as not engaged in remunerative work

53.  A person shall be treated as not engaged in remunerative work in so far as—

(a) he is engaged by a charity or a voluntary organisation or is a volunteer where the only payment received by him or due to be paid to him is a payment which is to be disregarded under regulation 103(2) and paragraph 2 of Schedule 7 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings);

(b) he is engaged on a scheme for which a training allowance is being paid;

[F1 (bb) he is receiving assistance [F2 under the self-employment route];]

[F3 (c) he is in employment, lives in, or is temporarily absent from, a residential care home, a nursing home or residential accommodation and requires personal care by reason of old age, disablement, past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs, past or present mental disorder or a terminal illness;]

(d) he is engaged in employment as–

(i) a part-time member of a fire brigade maintained in pursuance of the Fire Services Acts 1947 to 1959 F4 ;

(ii) an auxiliary coastguard in respect of coastal rescue activities;

(iii) a person engaged part-time in the manning or launching of a lifeboat;

(iv) a member of any territorial or reserve force prescribed in Part I of Schedule 3 to the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 1979F5 ;

(e) he is performing his duties as a councillor, and for this purpose “councillor" has the same meaning as in section 171F(2) of the Benefits ActF6 ;

(f) he is engaged in caring for a person who is accommodated with him by virtue of arrangements made under any of the provisions referred to in paragraph 27 or 28 of Schedule 7 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), and is in receipt of any payment specified in that paragraph;

(g) he is–

(i) the partner of the claimant; and

(ii) involved in a trade dispute; and (iii) not a person to whom regulation 52(2) applies,

and had he claimed a jobseeker’s allowance, section 14 (trade disputes) would have applied in his case;

[F7 (gg) he is—

(i) a member of a joint-claim couple; and

(ii) involved in a trade dispute; and

(iii) not a person to whom regulation 52(2A) applies,

and had the joint-claim couple of which he is a member claimed a jobseeker’s allowance jointly, section 14 (trade disputes) would have applied in the case of one or both members of that couple;]

(h) he is mentally or physically disabled, and by reason of that disability—

(i) his earnings are reduced to 75 per cent. or less of what a person without that disability and working the same number of hours would reasonably be expected to earn in that employment or in comparable employment in the area; or

(ii) his number of hours [F8 of] work are 75 per cent. or less of what a person without that disability would reasonably be expected to undertake in that employment or in comparable employment in the area.

[F9 (i) he is engaged in an activity in respect of which—

(i) a sports award had been made, or is to be made, to him; and

(ii) no other payment is made or is expected to be made to him.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 53(bb) inserted (27.11.2000) by The Social Security Amendment (Employment Zones) (No. 2) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2910), reg. 3

F2 Words in reg. 53(bb) substituted (4.5.2004) by The Social Security (Income-Related Benefits Self-Employment Route Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/963), regs. 1(1), 4

F3 Reg. 53(c) substituted (8.4.2002) by The Social Security Amendment (Residential Care and Nursing Homes) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3767), reg. 1, Sch. Pt. II para. 2

F4 1947 c.41, 1951 c.27, 1959 c.44.

F5 S.I. 1979/591; Part I of Schedule 1 substituted by S.I. 1980/1975.

F6 Section 171F was inserted by the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) Act 1994 (c.18), section 6(1).

F7 Reg. 53(gg) inserted (19.3.2001) by The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Joint Claims) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/1978), reg. 1(1), Sch. 2 para. 16

F8 Word in reg. 53(h)(ii) inserted (7.10.1996) by The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Amendment) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1516), reg. 1(1), Sch. Pt. 2

F9 Reg. 53(i) added (23.8.1999) by The Social Security Amendment (Sports Awards) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2165), regs. 1(1), 7(2)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Reg. 53 modified (temp. from 28.11.2000 until 27.11.2001) by The Social Security (New Deal Pilot) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/3134), regs. 1(1)(b), 13(1)