Commentary on Sections Part 1: Social security Section 27: Attendance in connection with jobseeker’s allowance: sanctions
This section amends Article 10 of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Article 10 allows regulations to be made providing for entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance to cease for between one and five days if the claimant fails to attend a mandatory interview and subsequently makes contact with the Social Security Office or Jobs and Benefits Office within a prescribed period of the date of the mandatory interview without showing good cause for the failure to attend. Regulations set out that the prescribed period is five working days.
This new provision will mean that in the above circumstances, entitlement to jobseeker’s allowance will continue but will not be payable for a fixed period of at least one week and not more than two weeks.
In addition, regulations will provide that if a person fails to attend a mandatory interview for the second or subsequent time, a fixed sanction of two weeks will be applied whilst keeping the claim open.
If the person makes contact with the Social Security Office or Jobs and Benefits Office within the prescribed period of five working days and shows good cause in both circumstances, a sanction would not be imposed.
Example: If a person fails to attend a mandatory interview on Monday and attends the Social Security Office or Jobs and Benefits Office on Wednesday of the same week but fails to demonstrate good cause for failing to attend, a sanction of the loss of a week’s jobseekers allowance would be imposed but the claim will remain open. If he/she fails to attend a mandatory interview for a second time in respect of the same claim and cannot show good cause, he/she would lose two weeks jobseeker’s allowance but his or her claim would remain open.
The usual appeal rules apply for both cases.
This section also amends Article 10 of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 to allow regulations to provide that if the claimant fails to make contact with the Social Security Office or Jobs and Benefits Office within the prescribed period of five working days from the failure to attend, his or her claim would be closed.
Example: If a person fails to attend a mandatory interview on Tuesday and makes contact with the Social Security Office or Jobs and Benefits Office on Wednesday of the following week, his or her claim will be closed.