Reasonable restrictions on availability for work

Under reg 13 and 13A of the JSA regs 1996 a claimant who is diablled could place reasonable restrictions on his availability for work and look for work. For example, someone with Aspergers who cannot attend the Job Centre of a morning and if employed needs routine hours, e.g. 1300 to 1900 each day.
Do similar provisions exist for UC and ESA.

See p.1096-7 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2015/16, which sets out the Universal Credit rules on limitations on availability and search for work, with footnotes to the different pieces of legislation that apply in particular cases (most obviously the provisions contained in regs.88 and 97 of the The Universal Credit Regulations 2013 which are similar to the JSA regs you quote).

I’m slightly confused to the reference to ESA however - whilst ESA claimants are expected to undertake work-related activity and attend work focused interviews, they cannot be required to undertake work or apply for specific work.

Thanks Paul for this excellent and very helpful reply to my post

We have JC staff directing those with Aspergers to attend the JC twice a week for WFIs at different times and days each week. This is not suited to their disability. Are there regs which allow them to restrict their attendance at the JC or do they have to rely on the Equality Act?

Terry

Chapter 48 of the Handbook sets out comprehensive information about work-focused interviews Terry, although there is also some information available through our Ask CPAG project about avoiding WFI sanctions as well.

How can you avoid a ‘work focused interview’ sanction?

The key regulations are regs.54-62 of the ESA regs 2008, although they’re quite sketchy and do not place any particular restrictions on the frequency or the timing of WFI’s as such.

Someone like Dan Manville probably better equipped to advise on using the Equality Act here.

Changes also apply to lone parents, who could, under the old system, restrict availability during school holidays due to child-care responsibility. There is no provision for this under UC.  I met a client yesterday who is caught between fear of a sanction for not completing 35 hours worksearch and a perfectly understandable reluctance to, as she puts it, “neglect” her children. She has no family who can provide childcare, so was forced to take all 3 children to her most recent appointment at the Jobcentre, which apparently was not welcomed by staff, who, she reports, exhibited a “snotty attitude” and were as unhelpful as possible.

This client stated that the current school holidays have been the most miserable she can remember for herself and her kids. No doubt the Jobcentre see this as a success. “Changing people’s lives”-for the worse.

Apart from the quite specific provision in regs’ 89 and 91, for work search purposes there is provision.  It’s in reg’95(1)(a)(ii) of the UC Regs.  I’ve currently got an appeal for a guy with a brain injury with five concurrent sanctions where this reg’ is in play.  There are Equality Act arguments too.