Social security is a trade union issue – the rise of in-work conditionality for working claimants

Essentially these are the words I use in my presentation to trade unions.

We have had in-work benefits since 1988, but up until recently the only conditions people in work needed to follow was basic, like having children or being in low-paid work. If you met the criteria for the benefit you got the money. The latest iteration of this is Universal Credit which started in 2013. Conditionality under Universal Credit is very different. It is trying to change your behaviour to work more hours, even if your personal circumstances don’t allow it.

UC is for people in and out of work. It is made up of six legacy benefits, three of which were available to working people – working tax credit, child tax credit and housing benefit. Social security has traditionally been seen as something for people out of work, but now, especially with Universal Credit, it is available to a vastly wider group of people who have different circumstances and needs.

From the beginning Unite Community members flagged problems with it and for about 10 years now we have been campaigning on Universal Credit and benefit sanctions. However, while there are things that have impacted on working claimants like the two-child rule and the length of time it takes to get a payment, most working claimants have not been included in the conditionality regime.

But last year this changed. First, during the mini-budget Kwasi Kwarteng announced that 120,000 claimants in work would be put onto intensive work search. What that means is these claimants who worked up to two days a week were to be treated in the same way as claimants who are unemployed. This started at the end of January 2023.

Jeremy Hunt then took it a step further during his Autumn Statement. He announced that 600,000 working claimants whose income was equivalent to working 15-35 hours a week on minimum wage would have to visit the jobcentre regularly to look for more work. This is starting in September 2023. For the first time since Universal Credit began people who worked over 9 hours were being required to look for work or face tough financial penalties  – we know them better as benefit sanctions.

From the moment Universal Credit started ministers said workers would not be subject to in-work conditionality. Instead they’d be treated with a light touch. However, these announcements last year changed all that – and since then academic Dr David Webster has concluded that the 120,000 figure is actually 234,000 and that the 600,000 figure is nearer to 730,000 people. Therefore, the changes announced last year affect around 1 million workers on low pay. And this is just the first wave as the Spring budget shows.

A clip of Dr Webster speaking to IFAN before the Spring budget

Dr Webster is clearly concerned about the direction we are going in, and with good reason when you consider all this has been done with no consultation of trade unions or employer associations. This is central government policy and we are the guinea pigs as this is the only country in the world that is forcing workers into conditionality and sanctions.

The Spring budget saw even more people moving into conditionality. Now you heard Dr Webster talk about Administrative Earnings Threshold and in the November budget that was increased to 15 hours. In the Spring budget this was increased again to 18 hours and that will take effect next year. So that adds another 190,000 workers into the intensive work search category. That’s people who are considered unemployed but are actually working. Jeremy Hunt also announced that 700,000 ‘lead carers of children’ aka parents, would be brought into conditionality. Dr Webster said that bringing more parents of children into conditionality was “a complete disregard of children’s needs that will have a drastic effect on lone parents”. A recent Parliamentary question supports this as it revealed 70% of the lead carers are single parents. And we know 91% of single parents are women.

The announcements about increased childcare, the disability white paper and the announcements for claimants over 50 all open the way to more conditionality after the next election, but atm we don’t know how many are working.

One MP recently described in-work conditionality as a crude stick and said the policy was a desperate attempt by the govt to overcome the failure of its economic policies. Apart from that MP though there has been very little comment among politicians to these changes. It is worrying that so far the Labour party have not formerly responded to any of these welfare announcements in the budget. Let’s hope we hear something more positive soon.

So who are the people in work claiming UC?

April’s statistics from DWP shows that currently 39.3% of the 2,252,533 UC working claimants are in the two main conditionality and sanctions categories, with many due to experience an increase in conditionality from September this year and April next year.

We know a lot about these claimants because the DWP has conducted its own research looking at families on Tax credit and housing benefit. The future cohort study was conducted in April-September 2019 when there was an average of 2.2 million claiming UC. In April 2023 that number had increased to 5.95 million. Migration of families on Tax credits and housing benefit is due to be completed by the end of 2024.

Their research shows that 77% of these workers are women. 70% are parents and 51% of those are single parents. 20% are couples with children and 30% are single or couples without children. 15% care for an adult. 75% are struggling with bills.  

18% come from an ethnic minority and 21% are people who speak English as a second language. 27% have a health condition or disability. Many are unable to do more hours or take different jobs due to the need to balance work with caring responsibilities or a health condition.

We know from many research studies that conditionality and sanctions negatively impacts single parents, especially with their health and wellbeing. Far from helping them into work it pushes them further away. This also impacts on their children with 40% of children in single parent households living in poverty. Recent media reports that the impact of children living in poverty is stunting their growth and damaging their cognitive development. Some children are two years behind by the time they start primary school. In addition, behavioural problems and mental distress are commonplace.

Extensive research shows that conditionality and sanctions hit disabled people worse than non-disabled and exacerbates existing illnesses and impairments. Furthermore, the mandatory support and training disabled people get is of poor quality and largely ineffective. This leads people to become demoralised and demotivated. Of particular concern is the detrimental impact it has on those with mental health issues.

Ethnic minorities and people speaking English as a second language repeatedly report they are sanctioned more punitively and studies back this up. They provide evidence of unreasonable sanctioning and staff who refuse to adequately explain the rules. Staff also view them as lazy. As a result it is only the most work-ready individuals that are given the help they need.

The welfare conditionality project reports that for all these groups benefit sanctions routinely trigger profoundly negative personal, financial and health impacts that are likely to move them further away from the paid labour market.

Conditionality

Some of you might be thinking isn’t it a good thing that people have to follow rules to get social security? I agree to some extent, but it needs to be done in an environment that is fair and treats people with dignity and respect. People need to be encouraged and supported, but too often a jobcentre and its third party contractors is quite the opposite to that. In the past 13 years since the Tory government have been in power they have ramped up conditionality and sanctions and put so much pressure on people that in the worst examples some have died. One man was unable to refrigerate his insulin after a benefit sanction and died as a result. Another was so stressed out after an appointment he died of a heart attack metres away from the jobcentre. A woman who worked as a carer took her own life from the anxiety conditionality was causing. These are just 3 examples. Not everyone died but in the past ten years there have been a huge number of horrendous stories.

The handouts I normally give out during presentations to trade unions include case studies recently published by Citizens Advice. They also show some of the responsibilities you are under to find work. This is called conditionality. If you don’t know already a sanction is a financial penalty that they deduct from your benefit if, in the DWP’s opinion, you do not fulfil those conditions. It’s over £85 a week for someone over 25.

You will have to keep a record of all your work search via an online journal. If you don’t maintain the journal you will be sanctioned. If you’re late or you don’t turn up to an interview with your work coach due to work commitments, poor public transport or caring responsibilities you will be sanctioned. If you book a holiday with your employer you must remain available for work. If your work coach tells you to do something during that holiday period but you don’t do it, you will be sanctioned. 

Every claimant under conditionality has to make an agreement with the jobcentre on what they will do each week to look for work. If you work for 2 days you will be expected to look for work for the rest of the week. That includes weekends. You could be asked to look for work for 35 hours a week. It depends on your personal circumstances. Furthermore, as Dr Webster said, you will only be allowed to look for a job in your preferred chosen area for the first month. After that, you will be expected to apply to any job. DWP is not interested in quality, only quantity.

Again and again, people who visit work coaches say they find the experience very difficult. One woman in Scotland compared visiting a work coach to her experiences of domestic abuse, saying she cannot be assertive as they control her life – with work coaches regularly reminding her that they can stop her money if she doesn’t do what she’s told. For her an many others, this experience is enough to take them out of the benefit system entirely.

And just a word on employers.

It is easy to see how these changes can be exploited by employers, but there is also concern among them too. Manchester Met did a study looking at employers and universal credit. One of the things they came across was confusion over who has more power – your employer or the work coach. Employers interviewed assumed it was the jobcentre. This lack of clarity shows why it so important for trade unions to be consulted from an early stage.

The study also found that most employers did not support in-work conditionality with concern over the adverse effect it could have on employees. The negative impact this could have on staff motivation and well-being, which could lead to absenteeism and presenteeism. Employers also say that UC conditionality overburdens the recruitment processes with large numbers of unsuitable applications. The Man Met research recommends that trade unions form a partnership with employers to increase understanding of UC and to ensure workers can access clear and accurate advice about employment and welfare rights. These points have been included in a motion that is going to the Unite policy conference this week.

And finally…

This is just the start of the extension of conditionality and sanctions to those in work. Many claim due to low wages, caring responsibilities or long term sickness or disability. The majority are women. The system of conditionality and benefit sanctions hits people when they are at their most vulnerable. This can trigger debt, rent arrears, food bank use and can ultimately result in some people becoming homeless, destitute or suicidal.

The impact of conditionality and sanctions is not limited to claimants. When benefits are cut, other support must pick up the pieces. In the past this has included friends and family, local services, housing providers and the voluntary sector, such as Citizens advice and foodbanks. Now that Jeremy Hunt has added working claimants to the conditionality and sanctions regime people are going to turn to Trade unions for the help and support they need.