A DWP crackdown that will lead to more benefit sanctions on jobseekers has been blasted by a key committee.
A new law on February 8 - passed without any scrutiny or a vote - slashed the amount of time before Brits are forced to accept a job outside their “preferred sector”.
Jobseekers can now be sanctioned if they refuse to take a job four weeks after starting their claim, down from three months.
The law was part of a new ‘Way to Work’ target to help 500,000 Universal Credit claimants into work by June.
It was passed as an emergency law - meaning it did not have to be approved first by the Social Security Advisory Committee watchdog, and there was no vote by MPs.
But the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee said the use of emergency powers to bring in the move was “unjustified”.
It added the target is “arbitrary” with “no clear means of measuring success”.
The Committee brought the law to the “special attention” of the Lords in a rare move, and called on the DWP to report to Parliament on whether if it’s hit the target.
The committee blasted: “Extensive additional evidence still left us with the view that the target is aspirational, its delivery not yet fully thought through, and the Department’s ability to say whether its target has been achieved somewhat uncertain.”
It said the DWP was unable to explain how it will meet the target or how it will measure it - including whether people taking part-time jobs will still count as an entire job.
The new rules have been branded “ridiculous” as they could force people to stage hasty career changes with commutes of up to three hours a day.
The DWP said a claimant would have to take up a job offer even if it was a 90 minute commute each way to work, or be sanctioned.
SNP MP David Linden said last month: “Norman Tebbit callously told people to ‘get on their bike’ to look for work when there was mass unemployment under the Tories in the 1980s.
“This ridiculous rule is taking up the Tebbit mantra and forcing people to go miles further or face having their benefits cut.”
A DWP spokesperson previously said the 90-minute rule has not changed with the introduction of Way to Work.
They added: “Work coaches take an individual’s circumstances and capability into consideration when setting commitments, ensuring they are realistic and achievable.”
Charities have warned the “forceful approach” could “create huge amounts of anxiety and stress”.
There are also questions about the exact nature of the target.
When Boris Johnson announced the scheme he said: “We are launching a plan to get half a million people off welfare and into work.”
But despite the PM’s boast, it’s thought the plan is only to get 500,000 people into jobs - not off Universal Credit.
Millions of Universal Credit claimants also have a job, but it doesn’t pay enough for them to come fully out of the welfare system.
Labour peer Lord Rowlands, a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee said: “We remain unconvinced that emergency legislation was necessary which, as a consequence, curtailed proper parliamentary scrutiny of a measure that affects the rights of hundreds of thousands of claimants.
“We also remain concerned that the implementation of the plan did not take into account the regional differences in job vacancies.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “This isn’t about sanctioning people – it’s about getting people to consider jobs in other sectors earlier, helping them find work faster.
“As has always been the case, people are only sanctioned if they fail, without good reason to meet the conditions which they agreed to, which could include attending a job interview, or completing training, and the latest data shows the sanctions rate remains below pre-pandemic levels.
“With a record 1.3 million jobs available, it’s right that people who can work, are encouraged to take up available roles.”
