No hiding place for those who opt for a life on benefits, says Duncan Smith

Work and Pensions Secretary issues warning to unemployed people He says anyone who refuses to seek work will have 'no hiding place' Goes on to insist that looking for work should be 'full-time' in itself
By Tim Shipman PUBLISHED: 00:45, 27 December 2013 | UPDATED: 01:02, 27 December 2013

Unemployed people who make a 'lifestyle choice' to live on benefits without bothering to seek work will face a crackdown from next year, Iain Duncan Smith has announced. The Work and Pensions Secretary has warned that anyone who refuses to seek work will have 'no hiding place' under his reforms. Today, in an article written for the Daily Mail, he goes on to insist that looking for work should be a 'fulltime job' in itself.

Iain Duncan Sm ith says anyone w ho refuses to seek w ork w ill have 'no hiding place'

And he reveals that from 2014, thousands of jobless people who are 'lacking motivation' will be forced to

spend 35 hours a week applying for work. He says: 'This will make it crystal clear that looking for work requires as much effort and commitment as a full-time job and that jobseekers should think of themselves as in work to find work.' The minister adds that the decision to claim unemployment benefits should no longer be 'a lifestyle choice'. Mr Duncan Smith also makes clear that the Government remains unbowed by recent controversy over the introduction of Universal Credit as well as the cuts to housing benefit for claimants with spare rooms the so-called 'bedroom tax'. And he writes: 'I'm not going to say job done. We've made great strides in fixing the system, but there is more to do. That includes asking for more from jobseekers.' Mr Duncan Smith recognises that most jobseekers 'are determined to get a job' and pledges to help those who are genuinely searching for work.

Unem ployed people w ho m ake a 'lifestyle choice' to live on benefits w ithout bothering to seek w ork w ill face a crackdow n from next year

But he says that there should be 'no hiding place' for people who 'won't play by the rules'. At October's Tory Party conference, Mr Duncan Smith announced that there were plans to make some jobless attend 'full-time mandatory attendance centres'. He said the plans for enforced full-time job searches would be aimed at the long-term unemployed and those suspected of working in the black economy, who earn cash in hand rather than searching for legitimate jobs. Today, he has made it clear that the new system will also be targeted at unemployed people who lack 'the motivation' to find work. DWP sources say that those who can't be bothered to look for work will be identified early by job centre staff.

They will have to enrol in a full-time job search before they are referred to the Work Programme the Government scheme to provide support, work experience and training to the unemployed. Addressing his critics, Mr Duncan Smith insists in his article that it is 'a complete nonsense' to suggest that the Government has removed the welfare safety net. And he vows to continue rolling out Universal Credit, which will replace most out-of-work benefits with a single payment, despite having to delay the full introduction of the plans until 2017. Making a virtue of the delay, Mr Duncan Smith says the scheme will be rolled out across the country 'carefully and safely over the next four years'. He goes on to say that he believes the slower time frame should help avoid the 'costly mistakes' that Labour made introducing schemes 'in a big bang approach'. Mr Duncan Smith last week revealed that the welfare cap of 26,000 per household has pushed 250 people into work every week. Government figures show that almost half of those affected by the benefit limit are now back in work. And since April, adults in 19,000 households who have had their benefits capped have taken up jobs. Some 1,300 of these households now claim 200 less a week than they did before the cap. And another 51 households are claiming 400 less under the new rules. Previously these claimants could have been receiving 46,000 from the Government each year.

The dole can't be a lifestyle choice

By IaIN DUNCAN SMITH

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Sm ith w riting in today's Daily Mail

The last Labour Government left us with a hopelessly broken welfare system one that trapped people on benefits, and paid some people more in benefits than other hardworking people received for doing an honest day's work. On Labour's watch, welfare spending spiralled out of control, increasing by over 60 per cent at a cost of 3,000 for every British household. That is why this year we have introduced a cap on the amount of benefits that people who are out of work can receive and ended the madness whereby millions of people have been stuck on benefits because taking a job would actually make them worse off. We are making sure you're always better off in work than on benefits. These policies give claimants a real incentive to find work, and around 19,000 who would potentially have been subject to the benefit cap have already moved into work. We have also limited the annual increase for most working age benefits to 1 per cent saving another 500million this year alone. In April we launched Universal Credit which will merge six benefits into one and make it easier for claimants to move off benefits and into work. It's up and running in seven areas of the country, and will roll out across the country carefully and safely over the next four years, avoiding the costly mistakes Labour made introducing schemes in a 'big bang' approach. However, while the economy's turning a corner and we've seen a record 30million people in work, I'm not going to say 'job done'. We've made great strides in fixing the system, but there's more to do. That includes asking for more from jobseekers. I know most jobseekers are determined to get a job, and we give them all the support they need to realise this aspiration. But there must be no hiding place for those who won't play by the rules. By spring, every Jobcentre in the country will be signing new jobseekers up to the Claimant Commitment, which sets out clear actions to complete each week in return for their benefit. And next year, I will trial a new scheme that will require 6,000 jobseekers to spend 35 hours a week at a supervised jobsearch centre. People who have been out of work for several years or those who are lacking motivation will be required to spend up to six months looking for and applying for jobs in return for their benefits. This will make it crystal clear that looking for work requires as much effort and commitment as a full-time job and that jobseekers should think of themselves as in work to find work. Claiming unemployment benefits is no longer a lifestyle choice. Fair to claimants and fair to the taxpayer those are the changes we're making. We can't fix the welfare system overnight, but we're getting there.

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Cliff Hulcoop, Coventry, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago Been on such schemes. A lot of people applying for jobs they know they will not get because of their age, qualifications etc. Most of their time is spent reading newspapers and gossipping. These schemes just make politicians look good.

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Click to rate elliot, swansea, 1 hour ago a lot of people disagree with IDS's benefit policies, none other than Harriet Harman who claimed it was unfair on the children in families who have received benefit cuts and she said 'it's a matter of need'. Let me say this: there is not one job out there where you can go to your boss and say 'I need an extra 1000 this month because I've just had a baby' if you don't have the money you simply don't have the baby. People on welfare are given more money every time they give birth and not because they want children, because they want money which sadly means there is a high proportion of kids in the uk who haven't been parented properly or for the right reasons. It's ironic how a policy put in place to help society can have such a damaging effect

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Click to rate Said Perry, Queens, 1 hour ago But still plenty of hiding places for bankers and other like minded individuals who serve this unjust system.

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Click to rate la la la, everywhere, 2 hours ago Marvellous! Now follow through with this.

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Click to rate Pikachu, The Real World, 2 hours ago But what are you going to do about 50-year olds that live with their Mom's, claim Job Seekers', and spend all day in bed and raiding Mom's 'fridge? No incentive there is there? Especially since Mom (who has a house rented out and any number of pensions plus free TV licence and winter heating allowance) is daft enough to put up with it. (These generally claim to want a job but it has to be a job they fancy doing.)

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Click to rate ModernDayCommonSense, Oxford, 2 hours ago I think many people would work if wages reflected the true cost of living in the uk. Take a look at those coming to the uk working in hotels, bars, coffee shops, supermarkets etc, many live in annexes and other shared accommodation, thus avoid council taxes and other expenses, they can afford to live on the terrible wages on offer yet this is ALWAYS overlooked.

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Abyss, Stare into the DM, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago There's not point in telling people to get jobs until there are some. This policy is going to be abused to force people who've lost well paid work to take up menial replacements so that the government can talk about the numbers of people employed rather than the level of their employment. It's another government con to hide the reality that work increasingly doesn't pay and is no longer a route out of poverty.

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Click to rate TORYPARTY-EVIL-PARTY, London, 2 hours ago Bla, Bla, bla persecute the unemployed to distract people from all the tories failures. The tories cut benefits by 3.5 billion and then gave the rich tax cuts of 3.5 billion. They are transferring money from the poorest to the riches and this has nothing to do with people on benefits but persecute the poor and praise the rich. its all about ideology and if the tories really did want to help people back into work they would of used the 3.5 billion saving to offer quality training. Its always easy to attack the weak who don't have the money to fight back.

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Click to rate Martina, Hull, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago you are finished as a politician, this is your way of getting back at those who didn't elect you.

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Click to rate Johhanes, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago Just stop all of the benefits after the new year. You want to do it anyway. Let them eat cake and see what happens.

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