Work and Pensions Secretary, Therese Coffey has commented on a major change that will impact Universal Credit claimants. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rule change could see some benefits stopped.
Further tightening of the rules around Universal Credit mean that the 'soon' to be introduced change will effect anyone on the benefit. Under the current rules, claimants do not have to continue attending regular appointments at the Job Centre once they are employed for the equivalent of nine hours a week.
This minimum requirement will soon rise to 12 hours and could be raised even further in a second stage of changes. No specific date for the changes was announced, however, Therese Coffey said it would be "very soon", according to Lancashire Live. Job vacancies rose to a record 1.3 million unfilled roles in May marking 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.
