The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has condemned new regulations introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on February 27 which could affect more than 120,000 working people on Universal Credit. An increase to the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) means that more Universal Credit claimants will be moved from the ‘Light Touch’ group to the ‘Intensive Work Search’ group.
However, the DWP staff union said the pilot scheme now being rolled out in 60 jobcentres across Central Scotland and England will force “thousands of Universal Credit claimants to compulsorily attend jobcentres 10 times over a two-week period”, something it believes could “increase the risk of poverty and make claiming benefits more difficult”.
It warns that people who have been claiming Universal Credit for 13 weeks who fail to attend an additional meeting with their work coach could be sanctioned and risk losing their benefits, plunging them into poverty.
In a statement released by PCS it said: “PCS has been clear with the DWP that we oppose the introduction of any regime that results in more sanctions for claimants and that there is a mass of evidence that the threat of sanctions does nothing to help claimants find work. We have also been clear that gimmicky bonuses will do nothing to address the real issue of poverty pay in the DWP where more than 24,000 staff are paid the National Minimum Wage.”
PCS also said that DWP plans to introduce ‘incentives’ for staff working at the pilot jobcentres with league tables tracking performance and vouchers of up to £250 on offer to the ‘best performing’ sites.
Martin Cavanagh, PCS DWP Group President, said: “Our members will see through this pilot for what it is - a government hellbent on making it more difficult for people to claim benefits and which will increase the risk of poverty for those customers who fall foul of this pilot.
“Asking more customers to travel more often into jobcentres does nothing to help our staff or their workloads and does nothing to help the customers find the work that they need. Our members know what is needed to deliver decent jobcentre services, they need more staff to deliver vital frontline services to coach and give the right kind of support to help get claimants back into work.”
He continued: “To add insult to injury our members are being offered vouchers of up to £250. This is no way to address systemic low pay in the DWP. If the government and the DWP were serious about incentivising our members, they would meet our demand of a 10 per cent increase in pay as part of our national pay claim, and give us the extra staff we desperately need to provide help to the most vulnerable.
“To be absolutely clear, PCS opposes the pilot, the threat of sanctions, and the incentivisation of placing others into a more vulnerable situation.”
Earlier this week, DWP boss Mel Stride explained that the additional jobcentre support will increase a claimant’s employability through provision of extra one-to-one work search conversations with work coaches and through work search support sessions to help them overcome any challenges they may be experiencing.
The Claimant Commitment, which sets out each claimant’s agreed work-related activities, will be regularly reviewed and activity will be focused on specific steps to support people to move into work.
Mr Stride said: “Evidence shows that the longer a person is out of work the harder it is for them to return. A claimant’s likelihood of securing employment declines after 13 weeks, so we will focus this support on those who remain unemployed or with low earnings after 13 and 26-weeks of claiming Universal Credit.”
Who will be affected by the threshold change?
The new AET is the equivalent of:
- an individual working 15 hours per week (£617 in an assessment period)
- a couple working 24 hours per week between them, at the adult National Living Wage rate (£988 in an assessment period)
People impacted by the change will be contacted with more details through their Universal Credit journal.
Claimants who will not be included in the pilot are those:
- Awaiting a Work Capability Assessment
- Required to undertake less than 20 hours a week of work search activity
- Who are Gainfully Self-Employed
- Who have no work related requirements
- With an easement in place
- On a full-time provision offer
You can read the full PCS statement online here.
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