Social policy: commentary and updates
Paul Spicker
David Webster has asked me to post his latest report on sanctions. He writes: This release includes the first analysis of the new system of Mandatory Reconsideration. MR has been widely misunderstood. It has fundamentally changed the whole appeal process. It has greatly reduced the number of challenges to sanctions and has killed off appeals … Continue reading “David Webster: Sanctions and Mandatory Reconsideration”
Thanks to 24dash.com for drawing my attention to the DWP’s latest leaflet, explaining the circumstances in which couples can now claim Universal Credit. To claim Universal Credit as a couple, both you and your partner must: • live at your usual address in an area where Universal Credit is available • live at the same … Continue reading “Universal Credit for couples: now all is clear”
David Webster has sent me his latest briefing on sanctions. David’s key points are: Total numbers of JSA sanctions have started to fall back, reflecting the decline in claimant unemployment. They have stabilised at the unprecedentedly high levels of about 7% of claimants per month before reconsiderations and appeals, and 6% after. ESA sanctions have risen … Continue reading “David Webster's latest document on sanctions”
David has released his latest briefing on sanctions, which you can obtain here (a 1,6Mb download). He summarises the main points as follows: “There are no statistics yet on mandatory reconsiderations, which were introduced on 28 October 2014, and this has affected some of the figures. However the main message is that JSA sanctions appear … Continue reading “David Webster: more figures on sanctions”
David Webster has asked me to host another substantial document on sanctions policy, which you can find here. His key points are: The total JSA plus ESA sanctions in the year to 30 September 2013 were 897,690. In the year to 30 September 2013, JSA claimants were sanctioned at the rate of 5.11% per month, … Continue reading “David Webster: new document on sanctions”
A rather garbled report in the Guardian suggests that Iain Duncan Smith is considering ‘disbanding’ the Work Related Activity Group on Employment and Support Allowance. I don’t think I know what this means. ESA begins with an assessment which determines that it is not reasonable to expect the claimant to work. Some of these … Continue reading “Scrapping the category of 'work related activity'”
The DWP have explained the guidance for who will be included in the pilots. In the interests of public service, I’m going to quote the criteria in full. Eligibility To be eligible to claim Universal Credit during the Pathfinder (as opposed to existing benefits), you must: • live in a specified postcode area but not be … Continue reading “The Universal Credit pilots”
A new crop of figures on reassessment have been released, showing that cumulatively 32% of those assessed have been deemed fit to work. (This does not quite mean what it says; the Work Capability Assessment is stringent, and failing it means that people have been found not to be so incapacitated that it is unreasonable … Continue reading “New figures on reassessment”
In February I reviewed the figures for ESA assessments. At that time, 1,023,000 people had been reassessed, and 622,000 (61%) had been found fit for work. However, many of those found fit for work, whose appeals had been heard, had appealed successfully. Today new figures have been published that put the numbers found fit for … Continue reading “People found fit for work”
I’ve been spending more time with the new regulations; there are 496 pages of documents, and I don’t claim to have grasped all the implications. In my previous post I listed several points. Looking through the regulations again, I could see three more issues. The first concerns the relationship of National Insurance benefits to Universal … Continue reading “More on the Universal Credit Regulations”