01 October 2023 , 21:30
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Families face the threat of even tougher benefit sanctions, Jeremy Hunt will announce in his Tory conference speech.
The Chancellor will pledge to "look again" at the regime governing sanctions to make it harder for some people to claim. It comes despite a Government report warning that claimants who have faced a sanction get back into work less quickly and earn less when they do.
In his speech to Tory delegates on Monday, Mr Hunt will vow to set out his proposed changes in the Autumn Statement next month. The Chancellor will confirm that he and Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, will "look again at the benefits sanctions regime".
They will "make it harder for people to claim benefits while refusing to take active steps to move into work," the Conservative Party said. He will also confirm that he will stick to the party’s pledge to increase the National Living Wage in line with earnings.
Based on current forecasts this means that the minimum hourly rate for workers aged 23 and over will increase from £10.42 to £11.16 next April. Mr Hunt will herald this as a “pay rise for over 2 million workers”.
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In comments that are likely to be seized on by charities as a return to the divisive coalition austerity-era rhetoric, Mr Hunt will say on his plan for benefit sanctions: "Since the pandemic, things have being going in the wrong direction.
"Whilst companies struggle to find workers, around 100,000 people are leaving the labour force every year for a life on benefits. As part of that we will look at the way the sanctions regime works. It is a fundamental matter of fairness. Those who won’t even look for work do not deserve the same benefits as people trying hard to do the right thing.”
But the Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain said: "It's utterly ludicrous for this Conservative government to claim to be on the side of working people. They have in face punished them through crashing the economy and failing to get a grip on inflation."
She added: "For the Conservative party to turn around and blame the poorest in society for the state of the economy after they wrecked it takes some nerve.
"Politics is about choices and this Conservative government chose to cut taxes for the big banks and let the oil and gas giants off the hook whilst families up and down the country had to choose between heating and eating. The blame for the economic carnage lies at the feet of the government and no one else."
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