Retaining worker status as jobseeker

I wanted to check if my understanding about the new rules is correct.

A person has worked, attained worker status and then loses employment and claims JSA. In those circumstances, they retain worker status. Say the employment was for less than 12 months. That means that worker status would be retained for a maximum of six months. At the end of those six months, does the person then get an additional six months with a right to reside as a jobseeker. The amended definition of jobseeker in the EEA Regs in Reg 6(5)(b) disregards any period where worker status is retained so it looks to me like a person is entitled to six months of being a jobseeker once they have exhausted six months of retaining worker status?

Does the same apply then if a person has worked for more than 12 months, retains worker status but come the end of the six month cannot provide compelling evidence? Does such a person then get six months of JSA as a jobseeker (assuming they can satisfy the lower test of just providing evidence rather than compelling evidence?)

The way I read it, the definition of job seeker requires the person to have:

- entered the UK to seek work more or less immediately, or
- entered the job market immediately after exercising some alternative R2R (most likely self-employment), but not if that alternative R2R was as a former worker with retained status.

I think this means the status of jobseeker is simply not available to someone whose previous R2R as a former worker has run out: you don’t take a step down to the inferior status of jobseeker, you are basically finished in the job market.  You won’t have R2R again until you find another job, embark on different activity (again most likely self-employment) or break your UK residence

This seems to be a very restrictive drafting.  I can think of two categories of person who seem unjustly to fall outside jobseeker status:

- a family member who reaches age 21
- an economically inactive person who had no positive R2R and decides to start looking for work

In both cases it seems they cannot go through the officially recognised jobseeker stage and so cannot get income based JSA while trying to fiond work.