NEW SANCTION RULES

Having cast my eyes over the new Statutory Instrument reducing Sanction periods for repeat offenders, I became a little concerned by part of its wording. Namely the statement that a second sanction could only be applied at the same length of time as the previous one. Surely that is licence for DWP to apply a higher sanction at the first possible opportunity ( or have I become totally cynical )

As a side matter I noted the age of a child placed around a person with child care seems to now states ONE year old  

I’ve copied the info below so it can be perused, any additional thoughts greatly received

Reducing sanctions for repeat offences and allowing write-offs of sanction and hardship repayment debts

New statutory instrument

New regulations have been issued that provide for the reduction of sanction periods for repeat offences, and the write-off of sanctions and hardship payments for universal credit claimants with no work-related requirements.

In force from 25 July 2016, the Social Security (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (SI.No.678/2016) amend provisions relating to sanctions for jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance and universal credit.

Amendments apply to all three benefits in relation to claimants who have three or more sanctionable offences, and ensure that in all cases where a failure has occurred within 14 days of a previous one, the length of the subsequent sanction is the same duration as the previous sanction.

In addition, all universal credit claimants, even those without an earnings threshold - such as those caring for a child under one, those caring full time for a disabled adult or those found not capable of work or work-related activity - will have sanction and hardship debts written-off if they choose to work, provided they earn a weekly amount equal to or over 16 hours at the national minimum wage for a period of 6 months.

SI.No.678/2016 is available from legislation.gov.uk

Hi Daimo65
Not an expert of sanctions computations but these new rules could, as you say, lead to a lower or higher sanction for repeat failures in some cases compared to current rules - so will change the item to reflect this - the cases affected according to the explanatory notes that come with the regulations suggest the new regime addresses sanctions in specific, limited circumstances either where -

•each occurred within 14 days of the next and there are more than 14 days between the first and third or
•the last 2 occurred within 14 days of each other and there are more than 365 days between the first and third.

For the write-off rules, the reference to ‘child under one’ is an example of client groups who have ‘no work related requirements’ for UC (set out from p1066 CPAG handbook) and so would not have an earnings threshold to enable them to pass the current test to get debts written off by meeting their threshold by six months earnings.  Although a positive change, can’t see that many people will be choosing to work in these groups to benefit from this change.