Iain Duncan Smith warned that welfare reform is ‘unworkable’

Published on 17/09/2012 01:51

Iain Duncan Smith has been warned by social security advisers that part of his flagship welfare reform is “unworkable and unfair”.

The social security advisory committee has strongly criticised plans to require part-time staff to try to obtain more work or lose their benefits, saying that it is “unrealistic in the current economic climate”.

The committee, which acts as an official advisory body to the work and pensions secretary, set out its views in a written response to the Universal Credit white paper, Mr Duncan Smith’s blueprint for simplifying the benefits system and making work pay.