Jobcentres

[richard]

An excerpt from the Universal Credit White Paper:

For those who repeatedly fail to meet their responsibility to look for work there will be
progression through the sanctions regime to the tougher penalties. Recipients in
this category will have had many opportunities to demonstrate engagement and
will have been clearly warned of the consequences of continued non-compliance.
The penalty of losing three years of Jobseeker’s Allowance will apply to the most
extreme cases, where benefit recipients have serially and deliberately breached
conditions, and where other sanctions have not worked to change their behaviour.

And what do they think people sanctioned for 3 years will do for cash ? Start saving up for a few Rottweilers to keep around the house.

[AndyR]

Jeez...

You can see why, but, still... jeez...

The emotional and "morale" effect, not to mention any unnecessary "guilt" effect, that this has on the people who ARE already looking for work and who really want to get out of the hole is immense. This in itself can have a paralysing effect on an individual. It leads to depression, family breakdowns, also, depending on the individual, to rebellion (crime and anti-social behaviour) and surrender (suicide, worst case), etc.

I'm not sure that some folks appreciate that side of pronouncements/planning like this.


I do have a question though, Richard. Back in the day, you were assessed for what you need to live on. You got "jobseekers allowance" for a fixed period (I think it was 6 months then), made up to the living amount with "supplementary benefit" from the DSS. The amount of supp ben a week was your "living amount" minus any income (jobseeker allowance was regarded as income).

The entitlement to the DSS part (whether you needed it or not) is what triggered your entitlement to various other stuff - housing benefit, council tax benefit, free dental care and prescriptions, etc.

Then when your entitlement to jobseekers allowance ran out, this meant your "income" went down and the whole living amount came from the DSS. So, in those days, "no jobseekers allowance" didn't make you any worse off...

Has this changed since then? Has it been streamlined and you can lose the entitlement to any benefits at all?

[richard]

Andy, things have changed a bit. Jobseeker's Allowance has two components - contribution based and income based. Contribution based is assessed on whether you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions in the relevant tax years.  If you have, you get the JSA for 26 weeks provided you are available for and actively seeking work. Income based can be paid if you don't qualify for the first type but is affected by any other household income. If you have a partner who is in full time work you won't get a penny. It is possible to get both types at the same time depending on your circumstances.

There are other changes too numerous and complex to describe here. Suffice to say none of these changes have been for the better for the unemployed.

The current shower in charge despise the unemployed for having the lack of judgement not to have inherited a lot of money and invested it in offshore tax scams. Well, it's very silly of them isn't it ?