Commentary on Sections Schedule 24 – Social security, child support and tax credits Part 10 – Amendments of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15))
889.Paragraphs 130 to 137 amend the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.
890.Paragraph 130 amends Article 2 so that definitions of “couple” etc. are brought in line with those for the other income-related benefits.
891.Paragraphs 131 – 134, 136 and 137 amend the definition of “joint-claim couple”. For jobseeker’s allowance there are additional effects of being treated as a couple. Where either the claimant or their partner was born after 28th October 1957 and is 18 and over and neither is responsible for children in certain circumstances, then they are required to make a claim for jobseekers allowance as a “joint-claim couple”. There are sanctions implications for joint-claim couples where one member of the couple does not comply with jobseekers directions requiring them to attend opportunities to improve their job prospects. These provisions will apply in the same way to same-sex couples who are civil partners or “living together as if they were civil partners”.
892.Paragraph 135 amends Article 25 to extend the provisions that currently allow for the recovery of spousal maintenance where an award of jobseeker’s allowance has been made to that spouse to cover civil partners in the same circumstances.