The chancellor is set to announce a crackdown on benefit claimants who cannot prove they are actively seeking employment.
Jeremy Hunt is in Manchester at the Conservative Party’s annual conference.
According to The Telegraph:
Around 100,000 people are understood to be in Mr Hunt’s sights, with full details about how the regime will be made tougher to be unveiled next month.
Lowering the amount of benefits people can receive if they repeatedly refuse to go to job interviews is one area being explored, figures close to the policy have indicated.
Another would see people currently under no requirement to pursue job opportunities being given new conditions before getting their out of work benefits.
It is part of a wider push by Rishi Sunak to reduce the 5.2 million Britons on out of work benefits – a figure that soared during the pandemic and has yet to drop back down.
Mr Hunt will also use his speech to announce that the National Living Wage will rise to above £11 an hour next April, meaning a pay boost for two million people. It currently stands at £10.42.
On benefits sanctions, the Chancellor will say: “I am incredibly proud to live in a country where, as Churchill said, there’s a ladder everyone can climb but also a safety net below which no one falls. But paying for that safety net is a social contract that depends on fairness to those in work alongside compassion to those who are not.
“That means work must pay, and we’re making sure it does. From last year, for the first time ever, you can earn £1,000 a month without paying a penny of tax or national insurance.
“But since the pandemic, things have being going in the wrong direction. Whilst companies struggle to find workers, around 100,000 people are leaving the labour force every year for a life on benefits.
“As part of that, we will look at the way the sanctions regime works. It is a fundamental matter of fairness. Those who won’t even look for work do not deserve the same benefits as people trying hard to do the right thing.”
There are currently around 5.2 million people on out of work benefits. Some 3.7 million claim benefits without needing to look for work for a variety of reasons including health conditions and long-term disabilities.
But Mr Hunt wants to focus on around 100,000 who, it is believed, could work but are failing to search for a job.
