Welfare shake-up not working for Scots - Sturgeon
The new regime is failing to “make work pay” and some Jobcentre Plus staff have even been branded “unhelpful and hostile” by struggling Scots adapting to the change.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the government report by Scottish academics shows that the changes to the system are not working.
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Hide AdIt was branded “misleading” by the coalition government, which insists the changes are helping people back into work.
The shift to Universal Credit has been among the most controversial policies of the coalition and aims to merge the various social security benefits into one single payment tailored to individuals as they dip in and out of work.
The changes to the system also mean claimants can have their Jobseeker’s Allowance suspended if they have not done enough to find work, turn down jobs offered to them or fail to turn up to appointments. The tougher regime has hit groups such as single parents and the disabled since it was introduced in October 2012.
Many single parents want to work but struggle to find suitable jobs while also caring for their children, according to the report by Napier and Stirling Universities. Those who did find work said they were “slightly better off” but still struggled to make ends meet.
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Ms Sturgeon said: “The people in this study show that the changes to the current system are not achieving what they set out to do.
“The system is not helping people without work find jobs and it is not making people with work better off in any real sense.Penalties in the benefit system, and changes that make it harder to claim, do not help people. The people involved also made clear that the support currently on offer is to help them find jobs – such as the Work Programme – is limited and not helpful.
“The only way to increase employment is to address the barriers stopping people from working – that means better childcare, more training and help with any health problems.”
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Hide AdThe academics followed dozens of people to see how changes to the system were affecting them. The report concluded that the tougher approach to people finding work is unlikely to get more people into jobs.
This was due to a “lack of suitable work and barriers in the areas of education, skills, employability, childcare and health.
“Positive experiences by some participants suggest that there are a number of interventions, such as targeted employability services, that can help address such barriers to work.”
The researchers found that claimants who did not abide by the new conditions faced serious consequences.
The study raised questions over the effectiveness of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)’s work capability assessment, which is carried out for anyone who claims Employment and Support Allowance and looks at how their illness or condition affects them.
Researchers found that the assessment appeared to have “placed a considerable strain” on some participants.
A DWP spokesman said: “This report presents a misleading picture when in fact welfare is helping people back to work, we have record levels of employment and have seen the largest drop in long-term unemployment in a generation.
“Last week, we saw how the benefit cap is getting people into work and thanks to the Work Programme around 330,000 long-term unemployed people are now in sustained work.”
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