You are one of the many workers in the UK who is on low pay or can only find a part-time job, struggling to earn a living. You have been being summoned to an appointment at a Jobcentre - but at the same time called in for a last minute shift at work. Ignoring the Jobcentre could mean a sanction and losing vital benefit support. Failing to turn up at work could risk losing a much-needed job. What can you do?
This is the type of Kafkaesque situation uncovered by researchers examining the Tory government's latest great scheme which it claims is needed to encourage the nation to work. The sanctions regime for out-of-work benefit claimants has been much criticised for plunging individuals and families into financial crisis and has been cited as one reason for a rise in food bank use. Now this cruel and frankly stupid regime is also now to be inflicted on the working poor as part of the new Universal Credit benefits system.
The Department of Work and Pensions talks of aiming to "redefine the contract between claimants and the welfare state". What this means in practice is the state will dictate what low-paid workers who need to claim support can do with their spare time - and failing to meet its inflexible rules can result in financial punishment. Campaigners and charities have welcomed the idea of helping those on low wages earn more, but rightly say such an approach should be based on helping people to overcome barriers such as childcare issues, rather than counter-productive sanctions which risk driving claimants into further financial hardship.
What is even more worrying is the UK is one of the first countries in the world to introduce this type of scheme. The DWP says it is carrying out a number of pilot schemes, but has declined to give details of the trials or confirm the results will be made publicly available.
Without evidence this system works, the motives for introducing it appear to be based less on helping claimants to increase their earnings and more on an ideologically-driven shrinking of the welfare state, which is aimed at driving people out of a benefits system using punishing sanctions instead of creating a safety net for the working poor.
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