Benefit claimants not seeking work to face mandatory work placements

Benefit claimants who fail to find work for more than 18 months will have to undertake work experience placements, under rules planned for late next year. If they refuse they will lose access to their benefits for a period, the government says. But the charity Mind said the use of sanctions would worsen peoples' mental health. It is part of new plans to get people back to work, which will also see an extra £2.5bn spent on career support.
Under a plan that would need parliamentary approval, those solely eligible for the standard Universal Credit allowance who refuse to engage with job centre staff or accept work offered to them after six months will have their claims closed. That means they will have to go through the application process again if they want to keep receiving benefits and lose access to extras such as free prescriptions and legal aid during that time. Meanwhile, Labour pledged to invest an extra £1.1bn to cut NHS waiting lists to help get people back to work. According to the Treasury, the number of people not seeking work has risen sharply since the pandemic, hurting the economy. It said there were 300,000 people who had been registered as unemployed for over a year in the three months to July. But Vicki Nash from mental health charity Mind said: "The increase in the use of sanctions is deeply worrying. Evidence has repeatedly shown they don't work and make people's mental health worse".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67439675

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