to think most part-time workers don't know what's about to hit them?! (Universal Credit)

[aufaniae]

Do you work part-time and get Working Tax Credit or Housing Benefit?

Did you know that once you're on Universal Credit, you'll be expected to attend the Job Centre to prove that you're looking for better paid work / more hours, in much the same way as unemployed people must prove they're looking for work.

If the Job Centre find an interview for you, you will have to attend (with 48 hours notice) even if it clashes with your paid work.

If you are offered a job with more hours, or better pay than your current one, you will be obliged to take it, even if you have good reason for not wanting to e.g. it's only a temporary post (whereas your current one is permanent) / has no training & worse prospects than your current job / makes picking your children up from school impossible / requires you to travel much further / has nothing to do with the career you're following.

If you don't attend the interview and/or take the job, your UC will be sanctioned, you will lose the UC for months or even years (depending on if it's your first infraction).

You will be forced to continue "upgrading" your job until you earn the equivalent of minimum wage for 35 hours a week.

I suspect there are lots of people (e.g. parents who work part time so they can pick their kids up from school) who will be affected by this, but don't realise it yet.

More info here

Garlicblocks - I would never ever suggest that the poor do not want to work. On the contrary, what I've found is the it is harder for poorer people to find work. Everything seems to be against them, from where they live, their education, their lack of skills, their lack of experience. They don't have the connections of the rich, the good cv's of the middle class. But what they do have is bucket loads of determination.

Not sure I said I supported it, I was being a bit sarcastic....I actually don't think it is a good use of public money but I have two (minor) chronic conditions so I am very grateful. I have always felt that prescriptions should be free to anyone with a chronic condition as that can be very, very expensive and is a constant cost, unlike the odd prescription required for those who are ill occasionally. Until it came in here, however, I had a "season" ticket which saved me a fortune as I get 4-8 prescriptions per month including inhalers. I know prescription charges have risen massively recently and I do sympathise as some illnesses (asthma, for example) bring about constant, unchanging, costs. FWIW the free prescriptions, along with other things, are part of the SNP government trying to "buy" our votes and, fortunately, most are not falling for it.

I would never ever suggest that the poor do not want to work. - Good to hear it, Baking.

Sorry Rose, I got all snippy, NHS prescriptions are a bit of a trigger for snippiness in me. I have two autoimmune conditions and am asthmatic but none of my illnesses qualify me for free medication despite the fact that my buggered immune system means I am always ill. It's a conversation for another place really why a heroin addict gets methadone a proven ineffective replacement therapy for the addiction with an extremely low success rate in treating the addiction, whilst I take another costly trip to a & e (draining more resources than my free scripts would anyhow) with an asthma attack/severe dehydration/requiring ANOTHER ULTRASOUND because I can't afford the inhalers/anti sickness medication/immunosuppressant to treat the conditions I have. I didn't mean to sound like a bitch

gets off high horse

Another thing people need to learn is low pay does not necessarily mean the person has not worked hard for their pay.

Not surprised you are easily annoyed by it. Not fair at all.

"It makes it very confusing! There are a lot of articles about this which are, I guess, filling in the gaps with assumptions. I will resolve to check my sources better next time! "

Don't feel bad aufaniae. I wrote the piece the op is based on. There have been numerous policy briefings, including the ones mentioned on here, but they don't really mean anything beyond it being the current ministerial thinking. what's important is the legislation and the safeguards which have been mentioned are not included in the legislation (not all of which is law yet, but much of the big changes have been passed). The piece in the op is based on the Universal Credit regulations - these are all that matter, although they leave ministers free to tweak with policy detail as they see fit in some cases.

Of most concern is how this will play at in practical terms on the front lines at Jobcentres. The DWP may not intend for people working part time to give it up for a temporary job, just like they didnt intend for people to be sent to sleep under a bridge for no pay during the queens jubilee, or for 40% of sickness benefits to be overturned on appeal. But when these things filter down to Jobcentres, and with no clear legal (as opposed to ever changing policy guidance) then honestly policy can change from jobcentre to jobcentre. The worst case scenarios that can be envisaged due to the rules have a habit of becoming normal practice and Jobcentre staff (and private sector work programme companies) are under unprecedented pressure to sanction (stop) benefit claims.

Currently around 1.5 million people are subject to the kind of conditionality outlined under UC. This number is set to triple. The DWP are not taking on anymore staff to cover this and hope that everything can be 'digital by default'. Shambles doesn't begin to cover it and if the rumours from the PCS and inisde the DWP are true then its even worse behind the scenes. The scenarios outlined in the op are likely to be nothing compared to the chaos likely to be caused in hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people's lives.

Gosh! A post from The Void himself!!

Hello :) Stick around!

If 1.5million people are going to have to sign on when and where are they going to fit in the appointments? Our 'local' job centre covers 5 towns and villages. All of them have a high proportion of low paid workers. Will their inability to give you an appointment be enough to get you sanctioned.

When sanctioned what happens to the children? Are they left to go hungry or taken into care? If care where are they going to put them all?

Good to see you here Johnnyvoid. Been reading your blog for a long while.

child tax credits will continue to be paid, as will housing benefits. sanctioned claimants may be able to access hardship payment, currently £42 per week per person - but these are to be converted into loans under UC.

there is obviously a risk of people left with virtually nothing (especially after the bedroom tax, HB cuts, changes to Council Tax Benefit) will attract social services attention and these new arrangements will cause chaos in the family courts - as an example, sometimes non-resident parents are asked not to work and so be able to become primary carers in an emergency for children under care orders - this wont be possible if they are sent on workfare etc.

(it's not that 1.5 million people will have to sign on, they already do, they are just about to be joined by millions of sickness/disability benefit claimants, single parents, part time workers and self-employed people)

thanks garlicblocks btw, I try to avoid forums too much because they steal your life, but will try answer give some input to benefit issues when i can.

worth pointing out to people downplaying sanctions as well, half a million claims were sanctioned last year, people have had benefits stopped for all kinds of things, such as not attending appointments they were never told about, or refusing to take up work it wouldnt be possible for them physically or financially to undertake. Its already a vicious regime, and the UK spends less on unemployment benefits than almost any developed economy. its now about to get a lot, lot worse.

the UK spends less on unemployment benefits than almost any developed economy

Well, that could do with repeating. On the front page of the Daily Mail, for preference, but all over Mumsnet could be a start.

I do think this is going to lead to poorhouses, with all the atrocities that got them shut down last time. No government is going to say "The streets are full of dying families because our ideology's a cock-up," so they'll obviously blame the suffering and stash them away to be exploited.

Argh :(

We need protest, big ones.

crime rates i'm sure will be going up

Poor houses etc, what a load of scaremongering.

Look it's OK, if there really aren't any jobs then you cannot be expected to work. You will still keep your benefits. If there are jobs and you don't fancy doing them as it's against your will then you might be in a little bit of trouble.

I work 35 hours a week, lots of people do, I don't want to but have to feed myself and keep a roof over my head, and pay a fair amount of tax taken off my pay. It's not a difficult concept.

So if DH should be asked to apply for a call centre again would applying but being honest about his inability to do it be enough to avoid sanctions?

What are the Chances of me being forced to quit training before I'm finished to commit to a lifetime of NMW?

hi johnnyv great to see you here :)

Thanks so much for helping to make sense of all this, it really is very difficult to get an idea of what's actually going on. I've been accused of scaremongering by some here. I would love to be proved wrong, but it seems to me we're entering very dark times. We will see homelessness, ill health, child poverty and suicide rise as a direct result of the policies being brought in now IMO

I don't think that's scaremongering at all, I think that's realistic, sadly.

"I try to avoid forums too much because they steal your life"
Very wise, I don't seem to have learnt this myself as yet

Interesting overview of comparative welfare spending, for fellow number crunchers at Full Fact.

johnnyv's blog for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

Well worth a read.

"So if DH should be asked to apply for a call centre again would applying but being honest about his inability to do it be enough to avoid sanctions?"

Good question! I imagine it could well depend on who's trying to sign him up for it and what their targets are.

Don't look at figures, you need to know who has published them and what there agenda is.

If there isn't the work then you cannot expect to do it, simple, if work is there then you go out and do it.

Scrazy, did you see what was said above about sanctions already being applied due to DWP-related mistakes? Reminding you the UC computer system and the DWP's Jobs Match site (which is going to be linked with a Home Match site that also won't work) are operating while unfit for purpose, may I ask whether you think HMRC, the DWP and its 'providers' are going to be more efficient than they are now, following this massive influx of new 'clients'?

You do know that benefits recipients have been suiciding after being incorrectly sanctioned? Sanctions mean total loss of benefits, including HB.

Scrazy

"it's OK, if there really aren't any jobs then you cannot be expected to work. You will still keep your benefits. If there are jobs and you don't fancy doing them as it's against your will then you might be in a little bit of trouble."

It's lovely that you have such a rosy view of things, but have you ever actually had dealings with the Job Centre? It's not the most efficient or common-sense-driven establishment to say the least. Cock-ups are common. Did you read johnnyv's post above for example?

"worth pointing out to people downplaying sanctions as well, half a million claims were sanctioned last year, people have had benefits stopped for all kinds of things, such as not attending appointments they were never told about, or refusing to take up work it wouldnt be possible for them physically or financially to undertake."

JakeBullet don't worry about what someone in a queue at a chemist thinks, you don't have to be on benefits to have a free prescription certificate. My DH has one because he's diabetic and he works forty hours a week, often more. A free prescription cert tells you nothing.

Don't look at figures - why? Too scary?
you need to know who has published them - All sources linked in the document I gave you. Official bodies, same data the government uses.