Redundant Workers (Unemployment Benefit) (Hansard, 3 February 1972)

§ Mr. Dudley Smith

A redundant worker must satisfy the conditions governing payment of unemployment benefit which are laid down in the National Insurance Acts and Regulations. Following is a summary:

Basic Conditions

The basic conditions for the receipt of unemployment benefit are that the claimant:

1. has paid or been credited with the requisite number of Class 1 National Insurance contributions;
2. is unemployed and capable of and available for work with an employer;
3. remains free from disqualification.

Main Disqualifications

A claimant may be disqualified if he:

1. has received a payment (other than one made under the Redundancy Payments Act) in lieu of notice or of the remuneration which he would have received had his employment not been terminated;
2. is following a part-time or spare time job from which his earnings exceed 33½p a day;
3. places such restrictions on the nature, hours, rate of pay, working district or other conditions he is prepared to accept, that he has no reasonable prospects of a job;
^*4. without good cause refuses or fails to apply for, or refuses to accept suitable employment;
^*5. fails to take a reasonable opportunity of employment;
^*6.without good cause refuses or fails to carry out reasonable recommenations in writing by an officer of the Employment Exchange to help him find suitable employment;
^*7. without good cause refuses or fails to avail himself of a reasonable opportunity of receiving training, approved by the Department of Employment in his case, for the purpose of receiving regular employment;
^*8. has left his employment voluntarily without just cause;
^*9. has lost his employment because of his misconduct;
10. is a seasonal worker who is unemployed in the off-season;
11. has lost his employment because of a trade dispute at his place of employment.

^* The maximum period of disqualification in these cases is 6 weeks.