Benefits claimants must “play by the rules” and get a job or face losing their handouts, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.
Mel Stride attacked Labour’s “reckless” plans to soften welfare sanctions as he vowed to ensure greater fairness for the taxpayer.
He made the remarks in an article for The Telegraph as the Tories ramped up their attacks on Sir Keir Starmer as a soft touch on benefits.
The minister has unveiled plans to remove perks and handouts from claimants who are able to work but choose not to.
Under the proposals those who refuse to look for a job will lose access to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel after six months.
If they still fail to seek out employment, they will have their benefits cut off after 18 months.
**‘Robust safety net’**
“At the heart of this approach is my belief in fairness. We will always provide a robust safety net to protect people from hardship,” Mr Stride wrote.
“But we will also always balance this obligation with an expectation that those who can work should. That’s only fair – and what taxpayers rightly expect.”
He added that ministers would match “support for those who need it most” with “expectations that people play by the rules” by seeking employment.
Mr Stride attacked Labour’s proposals to include ending “punitive sanctions” against welfare recipients in its manifesto, condemning the move as a “reckless approach” and said it would cost taxpayers an extra £2 billion over the course of the next parliament.
Rishi Sunak also took aim at Sir Keir’s stance on benefits as he gave a speech that fired the starting gun on a year-long election campaign.
Speaking at an event at Accrington Stanley Football Club, the Prime Minister said the Labour leader has no plan for “how he’s going to control welfare” spending.
**Key dividing line for voters**
Their remarks show that the Tories believe a tough stance on benefits will be a vote winner and are looking to make the issue a key dividing line.
Mr Stride is on Tuesday poised to table new legislation that will increase housing support for the poorest families by £800 a year.
About 1.6 million private renters who are in receipt of benefits will see their payments boosted to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.
The bumper increase, which is set to hit their bank accounts from April, will be the first time the level of housing allowance has risen since 2020.
Ministers hope that boosting the payments will help encourage more claimants into work.
Campaigners have said that being insecure about housing can cause anxiety and is a key factor that holds people back from applying for jobs.
It comes after official forecasts revealed that two million more people are set to start claiming disability benefits by the end of this decade.
The increase, driven by the growth of mental health problems, will push up the welfare bill for the long-term sick by £17 billion to £48 billion by 2030.
—
**Fairness at the heart of welfare reforms as housing allowance is boosted**
*By Mel Stride*
I have a confession to make. My New Year’s resolution isn’t to read more novels, take up darts or run a marathon.
In 2024 I will be guided by one, simple priority: to get even more people into good jobs.
We start the year in a good place. Conservative reforms – whether that’s making work pay or modernising the benefit system – have seen nearly four million more people in work since 2010.
The number of jobs in the economy is at a record high, standing at nearly 37 million, and our unemployment rate is below many of our international peers – including Canada, France and Spain.
We have brought down the number of those who are economically inactive by over 300,000 since the pandemic peak. And we’ve slashed National Insurance, meaning 27 million people will see more of their pay – with some households gaining almost £1,000.
But now my department is introducing the next generation of welfare reforms to help even more people on their journey off benefits and into work.
At the heart of this approach is my belief in fairness. We will always provide a robust safety net to protect people from hardship, but we will also always balance this obligation with an expectation that those who can work should. That’s only fair – and what taxpayers rightly expect.
**‘£800 better off’**
And so today we are making changes which will mean some of the most financially vulnerable households will be on average £800 better off a year. From Glasgow to Gosport, 1.6 million households will receive more support with their housing costs, which we know to be one of the main sources of cost of living pressure.
By boosting Local Housing Allowance payments by £7 billion over the next five years, we will give more tenants and landlords the peace of mind that the rent will be paid.
But at the same time, we are also rolling out our Back to Work Plan, which will provide more than one million people with the tailored support they need to find work suited to their circumstances, reducing their reliance on the state.
The Chancellor’s expanded investment in programmes like Universal Support will help thousands more people facing the toughest barriers to work move into roles. And our reforms to Work Capability Assessments will more than halve the numbers flowing onto the highest tier of incapacity benefits in the years ahead.
The plan also includes new measures that will make sure people who are fit and able, who receive 18 months of support and yet still refuse to work, have their benefit claims closed.
It is with this balanced approach – support for those who need it most, but expectations that people play by the rules – that we will maintain our positive record on employment. One that has improved the life chances of 700,000 more children who are now growing up with a parent in work compared with just over a decade ago.
**‘Turning a corner’**
Contrast this with the reckless approach of Sir Keir Starmer. Labour’s only serious proposal to reform welfare is to soften benefit sanctions at a potential cost of £2 billion. And their £28 billion spending plans would drive up borrowing, clobbering households with extra tax and inflation. It is no wonder that Sir Keir’s party has never left office with unemployment lower than what they inherited.
We know that the cost of living remains the public’s number one priority. The Prime Minister’s successful mission to drive down inflation visibly reflects that priority – and today’s increase in support for renters is just another part of a £104 billion package of help. But with the economy turning a corner, we are making work pay even more by cutting taxes for employees and the self-employed, and increasing real wages, providing further opportunities for people to improve their incomes through work.
Although the year is just beginning, I believe our approach to welfare policy – protecting the most vulnerable while helping people gain all the benefits of employment – will change lives for many decades to come.
*Mel Stride is the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions*
I thought that most benefit claimants are either in work or are pensioners?
I see that we’ve moved on from small boats…
What’s next?
About time.
Too many shirkers and grifters who realise they get a good handout if they don’t have to get off their big fat arse.
I’ve always said give them six months to find work. If they don;t then they get nix nought nothing.
Before people start screeching about disability claimants or most claimants already having a job, read this key paragraph a few times (emphasis mine):
>The minister has unveiled plans to remove perks and handouts from claimants who **are able to work but choose not to**.
>Under the proposals those who **refuse to look for a job** will lose access to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel after six months.
And before all the usual sympathisers bowl in with their oh-so-intellectual questions like “sO Do yOu tHinK tHat….” – The answer is yes, I agree with this approach 100%. If you can work, and you chose not to, then like hell am I paying for your lifestyle. I’ve got my own to pay for.
And I’m not spending all day arguing with the keyboard socialists over this one because I’m busy, I’ve got a job.
>Mr Stride is on Tuesday poised to table new legislation that will increase housing support for the poorest families by £800 a year.
About 1.6 million private renters who are in receipt of benefits will see their payments boosted to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.
The bumper increase, which is set to hit their bank accounts from April, will be the first time the level of housing allowance has risen since 2020.
**Ministers hope that boosting the payments will help encourage more claimants into work.**
Yes, cuz the hundreds of pounds that the rents increased with over the last few years will be fixed with a £66 a month extra payment. that will make those people on benefits feel safer and go look for a job.
Couldn’t be more out of touch lmfao.
£7 billion extra to go to the pockets of private landlords, eh? Did I miss the part about investing in new social housing to reduce the cost of providing homes for people on benefits?
Because I wouldn’t celebrate “stopping Labour from giving an extra £2 billion to claimants” while spending an extra £7bn on housing costs, with no plans to curb that additional spending.
its funny I went to the Job Centre, and said “One full time, permanent job, paid at a living wage please”, the lady said laughed and said “we dont do that here, we have some unpaid work at Poundland or Tesco”
Just a question, how many people on jobseekers refuse, and I mean refuse, to get a job?
This is just pandering to the right wing idiots, demonising a pathetically small number of people.
I want to see focus on rich tax dodgers, on corruption, on growth for the economy – this is why we’re in a mess, focusing on a dead cat policy from a dead cat government!
Targeting those who can work but choose not too is something the vast majority of people agree with.
“Under the proposals those who refuse to look for a job will lose access to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel after six months.
If they still fail to seek out employment, they will have their benefits cut off after 18 months”
It’s not that I don’t disagree with disliking our tax money going to people who aren’t contributing, I get why that annoys people but benefit fraud like that is relatively small compared to larger issues.
If people are going to be drains they’re going to find ways to be drains, and my fear is cutting benefits will force people into jobs and they’ll do them terribly- or worse, they’ll stay out of work and turn to other ways to make money that involve stretching our other resources thinner.
The government’s “cracking down” on EBay sellers before any sort of tax reform for people who earn unfathomable sums and people who live on capital gains are – in my view- more of a societal problem than benefit cheats- they pay the money the state gives them back into the system that gave it to them.
People who GENUINELY need benefits fine. But the system is being abused on a HUGE scale and needs sorting out.
No benefits whatsoever for foreigners until they’ve lived here for 10 years.
No benefits whatsoever for anyone who is not physically incapable that’s not been working for a year.
There are 3 million people wanting full time work and 1 million vacancies.
Too many dogs. Not enough bones
Provide everybody with access to a job – at the living wage – by creating paid jobs in the community working for the public good.
Only then can you reasonably say everybody should get a job.
Can we apply this to Tory mp’s? They never seem to do any work but take massive benefits.
>The minister has unveiled plans to remove perks and handouts from claimants who are able to work but choose not to.
How do they define that, how do they know someone has chosen not to work? I had to meet a work coach regularly, I had to provide evidence of job applications. Are there people who just refuse to do that? They’d surely already be sanctioned. I’m sure plenty fake the evidence, but again, if they can’t tell who’s doing that now, how do they expect to in future.
I expect if this plan ever amounted to anything it would just be applied to everyone signing on for over 6 months, no matter their circumstances.
But it won’t come to anything because this time next year the tories will be out, I hope many of them find out first hand what life is like as a claimant.
>cost taxpayers an extra £2 billion over the course of the next parliament.
That’s $400m a year – the money lost to PPE theft in just **one** year of covid would fund that for the next 100 years.
In the meantime, definitions matter – there’s a huge difference between people who are refusing to look for work, and people who (a) just aren’t getting a job despite interviews, and (b) people who would actually be financially worse off by working (single parents on minimum wage jobs, for example), and (c) people who should be on a disability benefit, but because they can walk 20m in one go, are being forced to apply for warehouse jobs and the like.
Honestly, this approach that benefits for jobseekers is crippling the country financially has to go – the **total** cost for all out-of-work benefits is far less then 1% of the Governments annual budget, and we are all going to need, or have used, that social security net at some point in our lives.
They just trying to shake everything up so Labour look bad having to fix it all when they start. Scum
Strange ..and yet the Government allows more privileged groups to enter into early retirement, on a full pension, financed by the taxpayer.
18 comments
Benefits claimants must “play by the rules” and get a job or face losing their handouts, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.
Mel Stride attacked Labour’s “reckless” plans to soften welfare sanctions as he vowed to ensure greater fairness for the taxpayer.
He made the remarks in an article for The Telegraph as the Tories ramped up their attacks on Sir Keir Starmer as a soft touch on benefits.
The minister has unveiled plans to remove perks and handouts from claimants who are able to work but choose not to.
Under the proposals those who refuse to look for a job will lose access to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel after six months.
If they still fail to seek out employment, they will have their benefits cut off after 18 months.
**‘Robust safety net’**
“At the heart of this approach is my belief in fairness. We will always provide a robust safety net to protect people from hardship,” Mr Stride wrote.
“But we will also always balance this obligation with an expectation that those who can work should. That’s only fair – and what taxpayers rightly expect.”
He added that ministers would match “support for those who need it most” with “expectations that people play by the rules” by seeking employment.
Mr Stride attacked Labour’s proposals to include ending “punitive sanctions” against welfare recipients in its manifesto, condemning the move as a “reckless approach” and said it would cost taxpayers an extra £2 billion over the course of the next parliament.
Rishi Sunak also took aim at Sir Keir’s stance on benefits as he gave a speech that fired the starting gun on a year-long election campaign.
Speaking at an event at Accrington Stanley Football Club, the Prime Minister said the Labour leader has no plan for “how he’s going to control welfare” spending.
**Key dividing line for voters**
Their remarks show that the Tories believe a tough stance on benefits will be a vote winner and are looking to make the issue a key dividing line.
Mr Stride is on Tuesday poised to table new legislation that will increase housing support for the poorest families by £800 a year.
About 1.6 million private renters who are in receipt of benefits will see their payments boosted to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.
The bumper increase, which is set to hit their bank accounts from April, will be the first time the level of housing allowance has risen since 2020.
Ministers hope that boosting the payments will help encourage more claimants into work.
Campaigners have said that being insecure about housing can cause anxiety and is a key factor that holds people back from applying for jobs.
It comes after official forecasts revealed that two million more people are set to start claiming disability benefits by the end of this decade.
The increase, driven by the growth of mental health problems, will push up the welfare bill for the long-term sick by £17 billion to £48 billion by 2030.
—
**Fairness at the heart of welfare reforms as housing allowance is boosted**
*By Mel Stride*
I have a confession to make. My New Year’s resolution isn’t to read more novels, take up darts or run a marathon.
In 2024 I will be guided by one, simple priority: to get even more people into good jobs.
We start the year in a good place. Conservative reforms – whether that’s making work pay or modernising the benefit system – have seen nearly four million more people in work since 2010.
The number of jobs in the economy is at a record high, standing at nearly 37 million, and our unemployment rate is below many of our international peers – including Canada, France and Spain.
We have brought down the number of those who are economically inactive by over 300,000 since the pandemic peak. And we’ve slashed National Insurance, meaning 27 million people will see more of their pay – with some households gaining almost £1,000.
But now my department is introducing the next generation of welfare reforms to help even more people on their journey off benefits and into work.
At the heart of this approach is my belief in fairness. We will always provide a robust safety net to protect people from hardship, but we will also always balance this obligation with an expectation that those who can work should. That’s only fair – and what taxpayers rightly expect.
**‘£800 better off’**
And so today we are making changes which will mean some of the most financially vulnerable households will be on average £800 better off a year. From Glasgow to Gosport, 1.6 million households will receive more support with their housing costs, which we know to be one of the main sources of cost of living pressure.
By boosting Local Housing Allowance payments by £7 billion over the next five years, we will give more tenants and landlords the peace of mind that the rent will be paid.
But at the same time, we are also rolling out our Back to Work Plan, which will provide more than one million people with the tailored support they need to find work suited to their circumstances, reducing their reliance on the state.
The Chancellor’s expanded investment in programmes like Universal Support will help thousands more people facing the toughest barriers to work move into roles. And our reforms to Work Capability Assessments will more than halve the numbers flowing onto the highest tier of incapacity benefits in the years ahead.
The plan also includes new measures that will make sure people who are fit and able, who receive 18 months of support and yet still refuse to work, have their benefit claims closed.
It is with this balanced approach – support for those who need it most, but expectations that people play by the rules – that we will maintain our positive record on employment. One that has improved the life chances of 700,000 more children who are now growing up with a parent in work compared with just over a decade ago.
**‘Turning a corner’**
Contrast this with the reckless approach of Sir Keir Starmer. Labour’s only serious proposal to reform welfare is to soften benefit sanctions at a potential cost of £2 billion. And their £28 billion spending plans would drive up borrowing, clobbering households with extra tax and inflation. It is no wonder that Sir Keir’s party has never left office with unemployment lower than what they inherited.
We know that the cost of living remains the public’s number one priority. The Prime Minister’s successful mission to drive down inflation visibly reflects that priority – and today’s increase in support for renters is just another part of a £104 billion package of help. But with the economy turning a corner, we are making work pay even more by cutting taxes for employees and the self-employed, and increasing real wages, providing further opportunities for people to improve their incomes through work.
Although the year is just beginning, I believe our approach to welfare policy – protecting the most vulnerable while helping people gain all the benefits of employment – will change lives for many decades to come.
*Mel Stride is the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions*
I thought that most benefit claimants are either in work or are pensioners?
I see that we’ve moved on from small boats…
What’s next?
About time.
Too many shirkers and grifters who realise they get a good handout if they don’t have to get off their big fat arse.
I’ve always said give them six months to find work. If they don;t then they get nix nought nothing.
Before people start screeching about disability claimants or most claimants already having a job, read this key paragraph a few times (emphasis mine):
>The minister has unveiled plans to remove perks and handouts from claimants who **are able to work but choose not to**.
>Under the proposals those who **refuse to look for a job** will lose access to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel after six months.
And before all the usual sympathisers bowl in with their oh-so-intellectual questions like “sO Do yOu tHinK tHat….” – The answer is yes, I agree with this approach 100%. If you can work, and you chose not to, then like hell am I paying for your lifestyle. I’ve got my own to pay for.
And I’m not spending all day arguing with the keyboard socialists over this one because I’m busy, I’ve got a job.
>Mr Stride is on Tuesday poised to table new legislation that will increase housing support for the poorest families by £800 a year.
About 1.6 million private renters who are in receipt of benefits will see their payments boosted to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.
The bumper increase, which is set to hit their bank accounts from April, will be the first time the level of housing allowance has risen since 2020.
**Ministers hope that boosting the payments will help encourage more claimants into work.**
Yes, cuz the hundreds of pounds that the rents increased with over the last few years will be fixed with a £66 a month extra payment. that will make those people on benefits feel safer and go look for a job.
Couldn’t be more out of touch lmfao.
£7 billion extra to go to the pockets of private landlords, eh? Did I miss the part about investing in new social housing to reduce the cost of providing homes for people on benefits?
Because I wouldn’t celebrate “stopping Labour from giving an extra £2 billion to claimants” while spending an extra £7bn on housing costs, with no plans to curb that additional spending.
its funny I went to the Job Centre, and said “One full time, permanent job, paid at a living wage please”, the lady said laughed and said “we dont do that here, we have some unpaid work at Poundland or Tesco”
Just a question, how many people on jobseekers refuse, and I mean refuse, to get a job?
This is just pandering to the right wing idiots, demonising a pathetically small number of people.
I want to see focus on rich tax dodgers, on corruption, on growth for the economy – this is why we’re in a mess, focusing on a dead cat policy from a dead cat government!
Targeting those who can work but choose not too is something the vast majority of people agree with.
“Under the proposals those who refuse to look for a job will lose access to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel after six months.
If they still fail to seek out employment, they will have their benefits cut off after 18 months”
It’s not that I don’t disagree with disliking our tax money going to people who aren’t contributing, I get why that annoys people but benefit fraud like that is relatively small compared to larger issues.
If people are going to be drains they’re going to find ways to be drains, and my fear is cutting benefits will force people into jobs and they’ll do them terribly- or worse, they’ll stay out of work and turn to other ways to make money that involve stretching our other resources thinner.
The government’s “cracking down” on EBay sellers before any sort of tax reform for people who earn unfathomable sums and people who live on capital gains are – in my view- more of a societal problem than benefit cheats- they pay the money the state gives them back into the system that gave it to them.
People who GENUINELY need benefits fine. But the system is being abused on a HUGE scale and needs sorting out.
No benefits whatsoever for foreigners until they’ve lived here for 10 years.
No benefits whatsoever for anyone who is not physically incapable that’s not been working for a year.
There are 3 million people wanting full time work and 1 million vacancies.
Too many dogs. Not enough bones
Provide everybody with access to a job – at the living wage – by creating paid jobs in the community working for the public good.
Only then can you reasonably say everybody should get a job.
Can we apply this to Tory mp’s? They never seem to do any work but take massive benefits.
>The minister has unveiled plans to remove perks and handouts from claimants who are able to work but choose not to.
How do they define that, how do they know someone has chosen not to work? I had to meet a work coach regularly, I had to provide evidence of job applications. Are there people who just refuse to do that? They’d surely already be sanctioned. I’m sure plenty fake the evidence, but again, if they can’t tell who’s doing that now, how do they expect to in future.
I expect if this plan ever amounted to anything it would just be applied to everyone signing on for over 6 months, no matter their circumstances.
But it won’t come to anything because this time next year the tories will be out, I hope many of them find out first hand what life is like as a claimant.
>cost taxpayers an extra £2 billion over the course of the next parliament.
That’s $400m a year – the money lost to PPE theft in just **one** year of covid would fund that for the next 100 years.
In the meantime, definitions matter – there’s a huge difference between people who are refusing to look for work, and people who (a) just aren’t getting a job despite interviews, and (b) people who would actually be financially worse off by working (single parents on minimum wage jobs, for example), and (c) people who should be on a disability benefit, but because they can walk 20m in one go, are being forced to apply for warehouse jobs and the like.
Honestly, this approach that benefits for jobseekers is crippling the country financially has to go – the **total** cost for all out-of-work benefits is far less then 1% of the Governments annual budget, and we are all going to need, or have used, that social security net at some point in our lives.
They just trying to shake everything up so Labour look bad having to fix it all when they start. Scum
Strange ..and yet the Government allows more privileged groups to enter into early retirement, on a full pension, financed by the taxpayer.