§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what regulations govern the payment of family credit to families where the breadwinner is receiving statutory sick pay.
§ Mr. JackThe relevant regulations arise out of the basic qualifying condition for family credit in section 2015)(b) of the Social Security Act 1986 that a person must be "engaged and normally engaged in remunerative work". The circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as engaged or normally engaged in remunerative work are prescribed in the Family Credit (General) Regulations 1987, as amended, including the requirement in regulation 5(1) that a person shall be treated as engaged in remunerative work only if he carries out activities in the course of his work for not less than 24 hours in the week of the claim or in either of the two weeks immediately preceding the week of the claim, and he is employed at the date of the claim.
Section 20(6) of the Act provides that family credit awards last for 26 weeks and are unaffected by changes of circumstances during that period, so that if a person who is already receiving family credit becomes sick, his award will continue unchanged to the end of the 26-week period irrespective of whether statutory sick pay becomes payable.