Benefit claimants in receipt of Universal Credit will soon have to either work longer hours or attend more meetings with 'work coaches' if they are to keep receiving funding, rules unveiled today reveal.
The current system states that anyone on the benefit and working a minimum of nine hours doesn't need to attend regular appointments at their local Job Centre. But according to comments made by Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffee, this will soon rise to 12 hours.
In an interview with the Telegraph, the head said that the change will come in “very soon”, but failed to pen an exact timeframe or date.
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Furthermore, Ms Coffee also said she believes 'we can go further than that' in a second stage of changes, should the Treasury pay to accommodate extra work coaches.
The Mirror reports that earlier this month, ministers toyed with increasing the cut-off point of working hours needed for benefit claimants to no longer attend appointments to a minimum of 12 hours. In order to prevent Universal Credit payments from failing, those in receipt must ensure they are turning up to scheduled meetings to avoid heavy sanctions including being completely cut off.
Ms Coffey's confirmation today is part of the Government's push to fill vacancies and bring down the unemployment rate, as well as number of people receiving out-of-work benefits. It comes as the UK has recorded high levels of job vacancies, which had risen to a record 1.3 million unfilled roles in May - an increase of 20,000 from the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the number of people on out-of-work benefits reached 5.3 million in November of last year.
The MP in charge of the benefits system attempted to cast the vacancies in a positive light played on the idea they may relate to the Prime Minister’s lifting of Covid restrictions last year. She also pointed out that the rate of unemployment was at its lowest level since 1974.
She recently revealed that nearly half a million job-hunters had been taken off benefits and into work in less than six months.
Facing claims that 12 hours’ work a week should not be enough to relieve claimants of the responsibility to find more, Ms Coffey expressed her desire to “'get on with the initial bit'.
“That in itself would bring about 120,000 people [into the work coach system]. If we could start and kind of roll that in, then that would be a good stepping point,” she said.
What do you make of the prospective changes to Universal Credit?
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