Sanctions on unemployment benefits will be tightened in line with plans announced by the government.
In the spring budget, ministers announced measures to tighten sanctions on unemployed people applying for Universal Credit.
The government says it is not imposing new sanctions, but instead is expanding the application of the existing system, making it more stringent and applying them to new groups of people for the first time.
This is part of a package of measures to get more people to work or work longer.
How does it work and who can it affect?
What are sanctions?
When someone is claiming unemployment benefits, he or she may have “temporary” rules that require them to participate in job search activities such as B. meeting with an employment counselor or participating in an interview.
If they don’t, they risk cutting their benefits. These are the so-called sanctions.
What is changing in the government?
In the budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced plans to tighten sanctions to try to get more people to work by applying existing sanctions “harder” to more people.
Employees of the employment center are imposing sanctions, and the government is providing additional training so that they can effectively apply them. The administrative parts of the process are also automated to make it more efficient.
The Administrative Income Threshold (AET), the minimum amount a person can earn without meeting regularly with their work mentor, is also increasing. This means that people have to work longer hours to avoid conditioning.
And ministers are expanding job search requirements to apply for universal credit primary caregivers for children.
Who can be affected?
Ministers say changes to the AET will require more than 100,000 additional applicants to meet more regularly with a job coach or face sanctions. It is expected that the application of the regime to child care workers will affect more than 700,000 more people.
Those claiming sickness and disability benefits are also of particular concern due to planned changes to how these benefits are assessed.
The Disabled Workers’ Allowance and Workers’ Allowance (LCWRA) will be abolished and replaced by the current Personal Independence Payment (PIP) scheme.
However, there are concerns that this will significantly raise the threshold for those who claim sickness or disability benefits. The government was warned that this could lead to sanctions for a vulnerable group of people.