§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether a person who fails to make him or herself available for work on a Saturday, and refuses to take a job requiring working on Saturdays, loses entitlement to unemployment benefit.
§ Mr. RossiThere is provision for another day to be substituted for Sunday as the non-working day of the week, on religious grounds; but I assume that the hon. Member's question is not concerned with that type of case. In the normal case, an unemployed person who is not available for work on a Saturday will receive unemployment benefit for that day. If restricting his availability for work to Monday to Friday prevents him from having a reasonable chance of finding a job, his unemployment benefit may also be disallowed for the rest of the week. Even if his restriction is accepted, he may be disqualified for receiving benefit for up to six weeks if, without good cause, he refuses a suitable job because it involves Saturday work. It is for the independent adjudicating authorities to decide questions of entitlement, including the questions whether the job is suitable for the claimant and whether he has good cause for refusing it.