§ Ms. ShortTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security where a local authority or voluntary sector training provider who is running a training course supported by the European social fund wishes to reimburse the expenses of his or her trainees who are in receipt of income support(a) what is the maximum value of a daily luncheon voucher that can be paid to the trainee without affecting his or her entitlement to income support and (b) under what circumstances a trainee who has to pay his or her daily travelling expenses to and from his or her place of training in cash can have them reimbursed without affecting his or her entitlement to income support; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BurtIn calculating entitlement to income support, the value of any regular payment in kind is ignored. As long as a daily luncheon voucher is not redeemable for cash, there is no limit to the value of such vouchers which can be given without affecting entitlement to income support.
Any contractual payment to reimburse the fares of a person undertaking training on a course supported by the European social fund will be taken fully into account in calculating entitlement to income support. However, any non-contractual, voluntary payment intended and used for fares will be fully disregarded.