Government to cut maximum benefit sanctions from three years to six months, Amber Rudd announces

Work and pensions secretary says current system of penalties is ‘counterproductive’

Benjamin Kentish
Political Correspondent
Thursday 09 May 2019 12:33 BST
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Tens of thousands of disabled people denied benefits for extra month

The government will scrap three-year financial penalties for people on benefits who do not meet strict conditions, Amber Rudd has announced.

The work and pensions secretary said she was ending “counterproductive” three-years sanctions and limiting the length of penalties to six months.

It is the latest in a series of changes that Ms Rudd has made to a benefits system that MPs and campaigners have said is too punitive.

Until now, claimants who miss jobcentre appointments or fail to show that they are doing enough to find work could be hit with financial sanctions lasting up to three years. In some cases, they would lose their benefits entirely during this period.

Ms Rudd said the policy was undermining efforts to help people into work.

In a speech in London, she said: “I want to ensure that the penalties for not meeting these conditions are proportionate, particularly for the most vulnerable.

“I will end financial sanctions for welfare claimants that last for three years. Such sanctions were rarely used but I believe they were counterproductive and ultimately undermined our goal of supporting people into work.

“In the future, the longest length of sanctions will be six months. I am undertaking an evaluation of the effectiveness of universal credit sanctions to see whether other improvements can be made.”

Ms Rudd, one of the leading pro-EU voices in the cabinet, refused to be drawn on whether she will enter the race to succeed Theresa May as prime minister.

She said: “I feel incredibly fortunate to be in this role. There is a really important job to do about making sure we get universal credit right ... I am committed to the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions].”

Ms Rudd also insisted that Ms May should be given more time to deliver Brexit.

She said: “We need to hold our nerve and allow her to do that. Brexit is a complicated procedure and the numbers in the House of Commons make that even harder.

“But I believe that she has a plan now, hopefully to do a deal with Labour, if not to bring forward indicative votes. We need to back her on that.”

A government report last year found there was “no evidence” that benefits sanctions were encouraging people into work or increasing their earnings.

Ministers have also faced pressure from MPs to reform the sanctions system. In November, the House of Commons work and pensions committee said the system was “arbitrarily punitive” and that the human cost was “simply too high”.

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