{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-and-support-allowance-regulations-northern-ireland-2016/regulation-50",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-and-support-allowance-regulations-northern-ireland-2016/regulation-50.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/2016/219",
  "legislation_title": "The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/employment-and-support-allowance-regulations-northern-ireland-2016",
  "path": "regulation/50",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "50",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "For the purposes of this Part—\n“current sanctionable failure” means a failure of the following kinds in relation to which the Department has not yet determined whether the amount of an award of benefit is to be reduced—\n(a)a sanctionable failure;\n(b)a JSA sanctionable failure; or\n(c)a UC sanctionable failure;\n“JSA sanctionable failure” means a failure by a claimant which is sanctionable under Article 8K of the Jobseekers Order;\n“low-level sanction” means a reduction of an employment and support allowance in accordance with section 11J of the Act for a sanctionable failure by the claimant to comply with—\n(a)a work-focused interview requirement imposed under section 11F(2) of the Act (persons subject to work preparation and work-focused interview requirement);\n(b)a work preparation requirement imposed under section 11F(2) of the Act; or\n(c)a requirement under section 11G of the Act (connected requirements);\n“lowest-level sanction” means a reduction of an employment and support allowance in accordance with section 11J of the Act for a sanctionable failure by the claimant to comply with a requirement imposed under section 11E(2) of the Act (persons subject to work-focused interview requirement only);\n“reduction period” means the number of days for which a reduction in the amount of an award of an employment and support allowance is to have effect;\n“relevant failure” means—\n(a)a sanctionable failure giving rise to a low-level sanction;\n(b)a UC sanctionable failure giving rise to a sanction under Article 32 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 to which regulation 101 of the Universal Credit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 applies; or\n(c)a JSA sanctionable failure giving rise to a sanction under Article 8K of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 to which regulation 22 of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 applies;\n“sanctionable failure” means a failure which is sanctionable under section 11J of the Act;\n“total outstanding reduction period” means the total number of days for which no reduction has yet been applied for all of the claimant’s low-level sanctions, lowest level sanctions and reductions to which regulation 61 applies;\n“UC sanctionable failure” means a failure by a claimant which is sanctionable under Article 31 or 32 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 50 inserted (coming into operation in accordance with reg. 1(8) of the amending Rule) by The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 (S.R. 2017/116), regs. 1(8), 11(3)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 50 inserted (coming into operation in accordance with reg. 1(8) of the amending Rule) by The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 (S.R. 2017/116), regs. 1(8), 11(3)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Reg. 50 in operation at 27.9.2017, see reg. 1(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "Article 8K was inserted by Article 55(4) of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2016/219/regulation/50",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T00:56:24.129843+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}