Hello

An A8 national (Polish) has been here under the workers registration scheme for less than 12 months. Due to downturn in job availablity he has only been able to find work via the 4 agencies he is registered with for a few days at a time.

To claim IBJSA he needs to have the R2R which you maintain for as long as "you are working and have registered that work" CPAG WRHB page 1373.

Can he claim IBJSA for the weeks he is working for less than 16hrs per week? In other words how much work does he have to do to be considered a worker?

Based on this if he is found to be an EEA national, and a worker he would be exempt from the HRT for the purposes of claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit?(CPAG page 1376.)

The case law indicates that the work must be more than minimal - "genuine and effective" and not "maginal and ancillary". Certainly one case ((R(IS)12/98) gave beenfit to someone who ahd worked only 13 hours a week for 5 weeks. The probelm may be that the hours worked may fall to be averaged, but that's worth arguing about.

Would he be willing to take up full time work -assuming he can get it registered?

Thank you for your reply. It was very useful. He is always looking for full time work but there is a downturn here which is seriously affecting the availability of permanent or even semi-permanent work. Many smaller companies are either downsizing their worforce or closing altogether.