The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will scrap some of the most severe penalties previously planned by the Tories. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall criticised the Tory plan to take away Universal Credit and PIP claimants’ benefits if they failed to secure a job after one year.
The new DWP boss laid out her own plans for the benefits system and the extent of sanctions this week in her first speech in the role. She highlighted to The Sun that the DWP will not leave “people after 12 months without genuine support”.
She also said she plans to “get Britain working again”. Speaking at an event in Barnsley which coincided with the publication of the Pathways to Work Commission report, she noted that the current system is “both too siloed and too centralised”.
She added: “Their divisive rhetoric about strivers versus scroungers or claiming people just felt âtoo bluesyâ to work may have grabbed headlines, but it did absolutely nothing to actually get Britain working again.
âAs todayâs report rightly concludes, people who are economically inactive are not one single group. There will be a few who act fraudulently, others who say they canât work but who can.
âBut the vast majority face a complex range of barriers which stop them from getting what both they and policymakers want â a pathway into paid employment.â She also laid out a target of an 80 per cent employment rate in 10 years.
Latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the employment rate this March for those aged between 16 to 64 was at 75 per cent – a 1.2 percentage point drop from figures in December 2019 to February 2020. Ms Kendall added: “They turned Job Centre Plus into a benefit monitoring service, not a public employment service, which was its original aim and they didnât give nowhere near enough attention to the wider issue like health skills, childcare, transport, that play such a huge role in determining whether we get work, stay in work and get on in work.â
She continued: “The problem with what the Tories proposed was after 12 months to do this. We are not leaving people 12 months without genuine engagement and support.â She also stressed âthere have always been conditions to look for work and consequences.
“That wonât change, but Iâve got to see a much greater focus on that upfront help and support.â Latest data indicates that around 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill health or a disability.
Meanwhile, one in eight young people are registered as not in employment or educated. Following the announcement of her plans, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted spending on disability and sickness benefits to increase by ÂŁ30bn over the next five years.
Ms Kendall also confirmed the government will transfer some powers to local areas in “a fundamental shift in the balance of power and resources”. She added: “My department will support local areas to make a success of this new approach, starting by devolving new powers over employment support to catalyse action and change because the man, or even woman, in Whitehall will never know whatâs best for Barnsley, Blackpool or Birmingham.â
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