§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will ensure that people whose incomes are sufficiently low will be entitled to receive either supplementary benefit or family income supplement if the low level of their income results from short-time working and a payment under the temporary short-time working compensation scheme;
(2) whether a person receiving wages for short-time work and a payment under the temporary short-time working compensation scheme is eligible for supplementary benefit; how (a) the number of hours actually worked and (b) the number of hours for which a payment is made affects the eligibility; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Prentice[pursuant to the reply, 11 December 1980]: A person who is in "remunerative full-time work" for supplementary benefit purposes, that is he works 30 hours or more a week (35 hours if he is disabled and his earning power is reduced as a consequence), is excluded from receiving supplementary benefit.
If a person working short time works substantially fewer than his normal hours and less than 30(35) hours he would not be regarded as being in remunerative full-time work, whether or not he receives a payment under the temporary short-time working compensation scheme. Subject, therefore, to his being registered and available for work, he would be eligible for supplementary benefit where his resources, including wages and any payment under the temporary short-time working compensation scheme are less than his supplementary benefit requirements. Decisions in any individual case, are of corse, for the independent adjudicating authority.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether a person receiving wages for short-time work and a payment under the temporary short-time working compensation scheme is eligible for family income supplement; how (a) the number of hours actually worked and (b) the number of hours for which payment is made affects the eligibility; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Prentice[pursuant to the reply, 11 December 1980]: Family income supplement (FIS) is payable only to families with dependent children where the head of the household is in full-time work as defined for FIS purposes. A person working short time would be likely to satisfy the FIS full-time work condition if the number of hours actually worked was at least 30 hours a week for the head of a two-parent family or 24 for a lone parent. Entitlement to FIS would then depend on the level of the family's normal gross weekly income. It seems unlikely that income during a period of temporary short-time working, whether it included a payment under the compensation scheme or not, would be regarded by the independent statutory authorities who decide FIS claims as a family's normal income until short-time work had lasted long enough to be considered normal rather than exceptional.