PART I General

3 Application
1 For the purposes of these Regulations, a qualifying person is a person—
(a) who is undertaking a workskill course,
(b) who has undertaken a workskill course and had good cause for any act or omission in relation to that course or who has not previously undertaken a workskill course,
(c) with whom an employment officer has agreed that he may undertake a workskill course, having regard to the factors listed in paragraph (3), and
(d) who has made a claim for jobseeker’s allowance and has been receiving benefit within a jobseeking period for six months or more at the time he started the workskill course or is due to start the course, and for the purposes of this regulation, the linking provision set out in regulation 48 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations shall apply.
Regulation 48 was amended by regulation 2 of the Social Security and Child Support (Jobseeker’s Allowance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1996, S.I.1996/2538.
2 A workskill course is a course which
(a) is an employment-related course,
(b) lasts no more than 12 consecutive months, and
(c) is a course of a description falling within Schedule 2 to the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or is a programme of learning falling within section 6 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992.
1992 c. 13.
1992 c. 37.
3 The factors which an employment officer must take into account when deciding whether to agree that the claimant may undertake a workskill course are:
(a) his skills, qualifications and abilities;
(b) whether the course would assist him to acquire new skills and qualifications;
(c) whether he would have to give up a course of study as defined in regulation 1(3) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations in order to undertake this course;
(d) any needs arising from his physical or mental condition;
(e) the time which has elapsed since he was last employed;
(f) his work experience;
(g) the number of jobs in the labour market and, if relevant, the local labour market, which require the skills and qualifications which he would acquire on the course;
(h) any evidence about whether this course or this type of course has facilitated the obtaining by persons of work; and
(i) the number of persons attending an office of the Department for Education and Employment in the same region as him in accordance with a notice under regulation 23 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations to whom Part II or Part III applies, which number shall not normally significantly exceed 2000 in any region.