HC Deb 30 July 1981 vol 9 cc489-90W
Mr. Alfred Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the criteria on which disabled people may be offered the facility of quarterly signing by his Department despite the fact that they do not meet the criteria operated by the Department of Employment.

Mr. Rossi

The normal attendance requirements are relaxed or waived to allow certain long-term unemployed claimants and "credits-only" claimants to claim quarterly.

So long as a claimant is entitled to unemployment benefit he cannot qualify for quarterly attendance and the facility is therefore offered to persons who fulfil certain conditions and who are not entitled to unemployment benefit but who are getting supplementary allowance. In every case it is confirmed by the Department of Employment with the DHSS area office that on the basis of its records quarterly attendance may be approved.

DHSS either on the basis of its own records or because the disablement resettlement officer has so advised may identify a supplementary allowance claimant who does not qualify for quarterly attendance under the normal rules and ask the benefit office to confirm his suitability under modified conditions. These are:

  1. 1. The claimant is handicapped physically or mentally or by his age;
  2. 2. He has no present title to unemployment benefit and cannot qualify for it without returning to work;
  3. 3. He has not worked—excluding any part-time work of four hours or less weekly—for 1 year, during which he has registered for work for at least 39 weeks; and has not refused or neglected to avail himself of suitable work during that year;
  4. 4. His unemployment is not—so far as is known—due to lack of effort to find work; and there must be no reason to think that suitable work will be available in the near future;
  5. 5. There is no positive evidence of a fraudulent claim in the past two years;
  6. 6. No arrangements have been made for his training or rehabilitation.

In the case of "credits only" claimants a person handicapped by physical or mental disability must be living in an area where it is known that job opportunities for people with that handicap are very limited, have little prospect of finding suitable work in the near future, have done no work during the preceding 12 months—part-time work of four hours per week or less may be disregarded—and have registered for work for at least nine months during the 12-month period.