Minister reveals new £1bn help for claimants

WORK AND Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has revealed an extra £1bn will be spent to help support claimants moving on to Universal Credit as the Government has faced swingeing criticism for its benefit sanctions regime.

Ms McVey made the announcement yesterday as she told MPs a package worth £4.5bn would be spent over the next five years supporting claimants.

The Minister, who has faced criticism over her handling of the rollout of the new benefit system, said the measures would include help for the self-employed, disabled people and those migrating from legacy benefits – such as Jobseekers’ Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support.

However, a committee of MPs has called for an urgent reassessment of the Government’s benefit sanctions regime, warning that the current system appears to be “pointlessly cruel” to some claimants. The human cost of the policy appears “simply too high”, with evidence showing that its impact is at best “mixed” and at worst “arbitrarily punitive”, said the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee.

The committee’s report found that single parents, care leavers and people with disabilities and health conditions are “disproportionately vulnerable” to and affected by sanctions. Unless the Government can show unequivocally that these groups are being helped into work, their inclusion in the regime cannot be justified, the report said.

Ms McVey defended her department, and said: “This is a department that listens and a department that will continue to listen, adapt, change and deliver.

“We will put an extra £1.7bn into work allowance, increasing the amount the hardworking families can earn by £1,000 before Universal Credit is tapered away, providing extra support for 2.4m working families.

“We’ve made a further £1bn package of changes providing two additional weeks of DWP legacy benefits for those moved on to Universal Credit.”

She also announced that selfemployed people moving on to the benefit will also be given a 12-month “grace period” exempting them from the “minimum income floor” which limits claimants to getting no more benefits than they would get if they were on minimum wage – even if they are making a loss.

Ms McVey further announced that advance loans, which help people bridge the gap, will only be clawed back at 30pc of benefits per month, not 40pc.

She said: “This is targeted support to help work pay and support the vulnerable.

“While the party opposite may hanker for the dark old days, trapping people on benefits, excluding them from opportunity of work and getting on in life, and at the same time delivering a big bill to the taxpayer, we do not,” she added.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood dismissed the package and again called on the Government to pause the benefit’s rollout.

She said: “The Budget last week did little to address the very long wait for payments which is causing significant hardship.”

Birkenhead MP Frank Field, who chairs the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, welcomed the extra cash.