05 December 2008
By Paul Dicken
The government has welcomed proposals to extend the conditions attached to unemployment benefits to more claimants and to improve individual support.
An independent report commissioned by Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said that the welfare system should divide claimants into three different groups with different conditions attached.
The report, Realising potential, was published on December 2, and several of its main points – including tougher sanctions – were included in the Welfare Reform Bill proposed in the Queen's Speech the following day.
Report author Paul Gregg, a professor of economics at Bristol University, said that a 'work-ready' group, akin to the Jobseeker's Allowance regime, should be created for people able to find and start work immediately. A 'progression to work' group should be created where work is 'a genuine possibility with time, encouragement and support'. This would include lone parents with a youngest child aged between one and seven.
There would also be a 'no conditionality' group, consisting of the current Employment and Support Allowance support group, lone parents and partners with children under the age of one and some carers.
For the 'progression to work' group, conditions would include work-focused interviews with advisors and work-related activity, and should reflect the claimant's 'co-ownership' of the process.
Speaking ahead of the Queen's Speech, Purnell said that the government could move quickly on some aspects such as changes to the sanctions regime. 'An approach where virtually everyone should be doing something in return for their welfare benefits is the right one,' he said.
Gregg said his proposals would create a new approach for long-term programmes aimed at those not immediately ready or able to work. 'It's a move from a rules-based system to a personalised system, consistent to moving to a single working-age benefit,' he said.
The system of conditionality, where receipt of benefits is dependent on claimants meeting certain conditions, is underpinned by a system of sanctions, which Gregg said needed to be clearer and more responsive.
Sanctions should be 'better able to deal with repeat offenders through the introduction over the longer term of a clearer set of processes, with a stronger approach based around mandatory activity for those found to be playing the system'. Mandatory activity would include work equivalents or community service-type tasks.
Gregg said: 'High financial sanctions are the wrong approach. What I've really tried to push here is non-monetary sanctions.'
In the report, Gregg said he expected the measures to reduce the number of claimants to 3 million over the next ten years, 1 million fewer than pre-recession levels.
The report also recommended that the government ensure that 'existing childcare commitments are delivered' and build support to ensure people not only find work but stay in work.
Trades Union Congress general secretary Brendan Barber described the proposals as 'draconian workfare policies' that assumed a 'utopian world of unrestricted childcare and widely available jobs'.
PFdec2008
