lack of childcare could be ‘good reason’ for not complying with conditions of benefit - in N Ireland at least

A written answer in the Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday states -

The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 and the regulations stemming from it, introduce a range of welfare reforms in Northern Ireland, including: Universal Credit; Personal Independence Payment; and the Benefit Cap. Universal Credit is the reform which is most relevant to the question of childcare availability.
Under Universal Credit, parents will receive support for childcare costs no matter how many hours they work. Parents will receive support of up to 85% of childcare costs (up to a limit of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 for 2 or more children).
Under the relevant legacy benefits, lack of adequate and accessible childcare can be accepted as, “good reason” for not complying with certain conditions of the benefit such as taking up suitable employment. This operational flexibility in relation to “good reason” will be carried forward under Universal Credit, in the application of Articles 31 and 32 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015. To ensure that there is no restriction on the specific circumstances which can be taken into account, this operational flexibility will be in the guidance to support the regulations.

http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/questions/printquestionsummary.aspx?docid=275382

“To ensure that there is no restriction on the specific circumstances which can be taken into account, this operational flexibility will be in the guidance to support the regulations.”

I would rather they ensured that this was a statutory right… “to ensure that there is no possibility of decision makers not applying the rule or applying it inconsistently”.... but hey an approach to drafting benefit legislation on the basis of rights rather than discretionary powers is increasingly a thing of the past.