Regulation 18 Interpretation

For the purposes of this Part—

• F1“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—

  1. (a)

     a sanctionable failure,

  2. (b)

     an ESA sanctionable failure, or

  3. (c)

     a UC sanctionable failure;

• “ESA sanctionable failure” means a failure by a claimant which is sanctionable under section 11J of the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 M1;

• “higher-level sanction” means reduction of a jobseeker's allowance in accordance with Article 8J of the Order;

• “low-level sanction” means a reduction of a jobseeker's allowance in accordance with Article 8K of the Order for a sanctionable failure by the claimant to comply with—

  1. (a)

     a work-focused interview requirement under Article 8B(1) of the Order;

  2. (b)

     a work preparation requirement under Article 8C(1) of the Order;

  3. (c)

     a work search requirement under Article 8D(1)(b) of the Order (requirement to take action specified by the Department to obtain work); or

  4. (d)

     a requirement under Article 8G of the Order (connected requirements);

• “medium-level sanction” means a reduction of a jobseeker's allowance in accordance with Article 8K of the Order for a sanctionable failure by the claimant to comply with—

  1. (a)

     a work search requirement under Article 8D(1)(a) of the Order (requirement to take all reasonable action to obtain paid work); or

  2. (b)

     a work availability requirement under Article 8E(1) of the Order (requirement to be available for work);

• “pre-claim failure” means a sanctionable failure listed in Article 8J(3) of the Order;

• “reduction period” means the number of days for which a reduction in the amount of an award of a jobseeker's allowance is to have effect;

• “sanctionable failure” means a failure by a claimant which is sanctionable under Article 8J or 8K of the Order;

• “total outstanding reduction period” means the total number of days for which no reduction has yet been applied for all of the claimant's higher-level sanctions, medium-level sanctions, low-level sanctions and reductions to which regulation 30 applies;

• “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.