The Social Security (Work-focused Interviews for Lone Parents and Partners) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011
These Regulations amend a number of Regulations relating to the requirement for certain benefit recipients to take part in work-focused interviews. These include:removing the need for lone parents and partners of benefit recipients in receipt of income support, incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance, employment and support allowance and jobseeker’s allowance to take part in a work-focused interview if they have a youngest child aged under 1;ensuring lone parents who are claiming income support with a child under the age of 7 are no longer treated as having not made a claim (or disentitled) if they fail to take part in their first work-focused interview without good cause;removing the current definition of “lone parent” in Employment and Support Allowance legislation because a new definition of “lone parent” will be inserted into Employment and Support legislation at the same time as the Regulations come into operation and make consequential amendments to Employment and Support Allowance legislation as a result;ensuring lone parents in receipt of income support are required, after the initial work-focused interview, to attend a work-focused interview every 3 years or if a relevant change of circumstance occurs if their youngest child is aged 7 and over; andmaking other miscellaneous amendments relating to work-focused interviews.