# The Social Security (Jobcentre Plus Interviews for Partners) Regulations 2003, Regulation 2: Interpretation and application


(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1998 Act” means the Social Security Act 1998;
“benefit week” means any period of seven days corresponding to the week in respect of which the relevant specified benefit is due to be paid;
“claimant” means a claimant of a specified benefit who has a partner to whom these Regulations apply;
“interview” means a work-focused interview with a partner which is conducted for any or all of the following purposes—
(a) assessing the partner’s prospects for existing or future employment (whether paid or voluntary);
(b) assisting or encouraging the partner to enhance his prospects of such employment;
(c) identifying activities which the partner may undertake to strengthen his existing or future prospects of employment;
(d) identifying current or future employment or training opportunities suitable to the partner’s needs; and
(e) identifying educational opportunities connected with the existing or future employment prospects or needs of the partner;
“officer” means a person who is an officer of, or who is providing services to or exercising functions of, the Secretary of State;
“partner” means a person who is a member of the same couple as the claimant, or, in a case where the claimant has more than one partner, a person who is a partner of the claimant by reason of a polygamous marriage, but only where—
(a) the claimant has been awarded a specified benefit at a higher rate referable to that partner; and
(b) both the partner and the claimant have attained the age of 18 but have not attained the age of 60;
“polygamous marriage” means any marriage during the subsistence of which a party to it is married to more than one person and the ceremony of marriage took place under the law of a country which permits polygamy;
“specified benefit” means a benefit to which section 2AA applies.
(2) Regulations 3 to 13 apply to a partner in circumstances where on or after 12th April 2004 the claimant’s award of a specified benefit is being administered from an office of the Department for Work and Pensions which is designated by the Secretary of State as a Jobcentre Plus Office and the claimant has been continuously entitled to the benefit for 26 weeks or longer.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2003/0110466330/regulation/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-social-security-jobcentre-plus-interviews-for-partners-regulations-2003/regulation-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.