UNEMPLOYED Britons will lose dole money for three years if they repeatedly refuse to apply for appropriate jobs.
As part of a new deal for the unemployed, turning down jobs and refusing to do unpaid community work would also see claimants stripped of their Jobseeker’s Allowance, the government has announced.
They would lose the 64.90-a-week benefit for three months for a first offence, six months for a second and three years for a third. There would be a streamlined right of appeal.
The sanctions are among a series of new responsibilities the government will expect from benefit claimants in its overhaul of the welfare system.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron said the reforms would offer a “simpler, fairer approach” to the benefits system. It would also instill the work ethic into families and communities where it had been lost.
“If you can work, then a life on benefits will no longer be an option,” he said as he arrived in Seoul for the G20 summit of world leaders.
The coalition government intends to legislate next year to bring in the JSA sanctions.
Mr Cameron said that the coalition was doing “more than any other government” to help people get back into work. “That’s our part of the deal. Now those on benefit need to do their bit,” he said.
It emerged at the weekend that JSA claimants would be required to carry out four-week work placements in the community or risk losing their benefit for three months.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that such a policy could drive vulnerable people into despair.
The government’s full approach goes much farther, adopting a “three strikes and you’re out” principle with three separate hurdles.
JSA claimants will risk losing their benefit if they fail to accept a job offer, refuse to work in the community or fail to apply for a job on the suggestion of an employment adviser. It will be up to the discretion of the adviser as to whether they have failed any of the three counts.
Exceptional cases would be able to apply to a hardship fund that would pay 60-70 per cent of JSA.
Mr Cameron said: “If people are asked to do community work, they’ll be expected to turn up. If people are asked to apply for a job by an employment adviser they’ll be expected to put themselves forward. If people can work and they are offered work they’ll be expected to take it.
“This is the deal. Break that deal and they’ll lose their unemployment benefit. Break it three times and they’ll lose it for three years. The message is clear. If you can work then a life on benefits will no longer be an option.”
Current sanctions allow the government to cut JSA payments for 26 weeks if a claimant is failing to comply with requests. Government aides say that it is rarely applied.
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