Changes to Universal Credit sanctions announced in the Budget have been slammed as 'a massive attack on claimants' which will herald a 'computer says no' culture by the union which represents Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) staff.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) says Jeremy Hunt's Budget announcement that sanctions would be applied “more rigorously” is bad news for DWP members and bad news for the people they provide vital services for.
The Chancellor's plan is part of the Government's scheme to get more people back into work and he said Jobcentre work coaches would get additional training to ensure they are applying sanctions effectively for Universal Credit claimants who do not look for or take up work.
Read more: All you need to know about Universal Credit sanctions as DWP imposes 'more rigorous' regime
But the PCS says the Budget statement signals a major ramping-up of a punitive sanctions regime for claimants. and is is angry there is no mention of more pay in the budget for DWP staff to compensate them for the extra work involved
“This is a massive attack on claimants that suggests there will be a huge increase in sanctioning activity unnecessarily forcing many already desperate claimants into deeper poverty to serve the failed and discredited idea that sanctioning people helps get them into work," a statement said, "The automation of decision making for sanctions suggests a “computer says no” culture, which means that the individual circumstances of claimants will be ignored.”
The union said that DWP staff are particularly worried that it appears that work coaches are to be asked to apply sanctions, arguing at the moment sanctions decisions are made by ‘remote decision makers’ who are trained to make complex decisions. The union is concerned that making work coaches responsible for sanctions will destroy their relationships with claimants and potentially lead to more violent incidents in Jobcentres "as claimants express their frustration with the excessively hostile environment that the Government seem hell bent on creating".
It also attacked Mr Hunt's announcement that: “The Government will strengthen the way the UC sanctions regime is applied in Great Britain by automating parts of the process to reduce error rates, and additional training for work coaches to apply sanctions more effectively, including for claimants who do not look for or take up employment,” calling it a "massive attack on claimants that suggests there will be a huge increase in sanctioning activity unnecessarily forcing many already desperate claimants into deeper poverty to serve the failed and discredited idea that sanctioning people helps get them into work."
The spokesperson said: There is also a clear indication in the budget statement that the Government and the DWP intend to extend significantly the “Jobcentre Innovation Pilot” forcing groups of claimants to attend interviews 10 times per fortnight and divisively incentivise staff in 30% of Jobcentres with insulting bonuses. The Budget statement also includes attacks on parents, in-work claimants and disabled people. The government seem intent on attacking the majority of citizens in this country."
A DWP spokesperson said: “Our priority is to help people find and move into work and the latest figures show an overwhelming amount - 97.6% - of sanctions are applied simply due to claimants failing to attend mandatory appointments, not for failing to undertake work search requirements. People are only sanctioned if they fail, without good reason, to meet the conditions they agree, and emphasis is placed on protecting vulnerable claimants. Sanctions can often quickly be resolved by the claimant re-engaging with the Jobcentre and attending the next appointment. We are not and will not be automatically applying sanctions. To help our work coaches, we are exploring how automation can improve the speed and accuracy of sanction referrals.”
The spokesperson said the DWP was testing this approach and will consider the findings before it is applied to all Jobcentres.
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