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Is anyone aware of anything in the pipeline to suspend Conditionality for all UC claimants subject to it, due to Covid 19?
Is anyone aware of anything in the pipeline to suspend Conditionality for all UC claimants subject to it, due to Covid 19?
Patrick Butler in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/mar/19/uk-coronavirus-live-boris-johnson-london-lockdown-williamson-refuses-to-rule-out-government-putting-london-in-lockdown-by-weekend
The Department for Work and Pensions is set to announce that it is suspending its rigid welfare conditionality rules, including for universal credit, in an attempt to simplify the system and ensure that benefit payments are not interrupted.
All face-to-face jobcentre interviews with claimants will be suspended, as will the requirement that job-seekers demonstrate that they have spend up to 35 hours a week looking for work, as the DWP moves to adapt the benefit system to cope with the economic impact of coronavirus.
Tens of thousands of people are entering the benefit system as businesses lay off workers because of virus-related shut downs in sectors such as hospitality and retail, and government is under pressure to ramp up support for people hit by the crisis and smooth their access to social security.
It is not clear whether there will be any changes to the current five week wait for a first universal credit payment. New claimants can access advance loans to tide them over the wait, repayable through deductions from future payments.
Under current rules claimants are required to sign up to a range of stringent requirements as a condition of receiving benefits. Failure to adhere to the rules results in financial sanctions, including having benefits withdrawn for at least four weeks and in some cases up to six months,
The measures, which come days after the DWP announced that face to face assessments for disability benefits were to be put on hold for three months, ensures claimants will not feel obliged to travel into job centres because they fear they will lose their benefits if they do not attend.
The Guardian has seen evidence that local job centres have already been abandoning benefit conditionality requirements ahead of a national announcement, possibly because of pressure on staffing at local job centres.
In Liverpool, some universal credit claimants received a message on their online journal yesterday saying work search requirements were temporarily suspended.
Thanks Andrew!
This is what we got back from our local JCP
‘People receiving benefits do not have to attend jobcentre appointments until further notice, starting from Thursday 19 March 2020.
This is another measure introduced to reassure customers that they will continue to be paid as normal, while we deal with the current coronavirus outbreak.
What it means:
· New claim interventions will be done by telephone
Face-to-face conditionality meetings for UC customers will be replaced with telephone interviews.
Changes to claimant commitments can be agreed over the phone and accepted by the customer on their on-line account.
· If work coaches need to contact customers, they should do so via the online journal or by phone.
· If customers need to contact us, they should do so by telephone or online, but the jobcentre network will remain open for customers who are not ill or self-isolating.
· This is in addition to the suspension of JSA and New Style JSA signings we have already announced.
Claimants must tell us that they have been diagnosed with Coronavirus or that they are self-isolating as soon as this happens so we can tailor their conditionality to their new circumstances
The claimant’s work search and work availability must be switched off and they will not be sanctioned for not undertaking work search activity or for not being available for work
Work coaches can continue to use their discretion to agree work preparation activities that can be done from home if this is reasonable. They can continue to conduct work focused interviews over the telephone or have contact via the claimant Journal where this is reasonable’.