§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he is satisfied with the workings of the social security legislation and in particular section 7(1)(c) and 7(2) of the Social Security Act;
(2) whether he is satisfied with arrangements under the social security legislation by which unemployed men and women are debarred from benefit if they have small part-time jobs.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI think that the hon. Member has in mind regulation 7(1)(e) and (2) of the Social Security (Unemployment, Sickness and Invalidity Benefit) Regulations 1975—SI 1975 No. 564. This provides, broadly speaking, that a claimant who does not normally work on every day in a week does not get unemployment benefit for a day on which he does no work if he does his normal amount of work in the week concerned.
Such provision has existed since the start of the national insurance scheme. It is a safeguard against benefit becoming in effect a supplement to wages and an encouragement to people to settle down to part-time work plus benefit. The application of this rule to the particular facts of an individual case is of course a matter for the independent statutory authorities which decide claims for benefit, and there are the usual rights of appeal. If the hon. Member is concerned about a particular case, perhaps he will write to me.