delete The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2012
The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2012 amended multiple social security regulations to clarify how earnings from territorial and reserve force annual continuous training (up to 15 days) are treated for Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, and Employment and Support Allowance purposes. It introduced specific earnings disregards and calculation periods for reserve force training income, treated reserve force members on training as temporarily absent from Great Britain for benefit purposes, and made related amendments to decision-making and appeals regulations.
While supporting reserve forces may be a legitimate policy goal, these regulations represent regulatory complexity that distorts the benefit system to serve military policy objectives. The earnings disregards and special treatment for reserve force training effectively cross-subsidise armed forces recruitment through the social security system rather than through proper defence budgeting. The multiple different calculation methods across different benefit regimes (Income Support, JSA, ESA) add administrative complexity without corresponding democratic oversight. Furthermore, the revocation of regulation 74A demonstrates how these regulations layer exceptions upon exceptions, making the overall social security framework less transparent and harder to reform.