Clause 48
Welfare Reform Bill
6:15 pm
Anne McGuire (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Stirling, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman identifies specific circumstances where an individual may wish to pursue a case under human rights legislation. I assure him that the five-year period does not run counter to that. As my hon. Friend the Minister of State has said, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has made a statement under the Human Rights Act, which is at the front of the Bill.
I have talked about the cases that we hope to catch in future, based on our current analysis. Currently, there are 320 cases per year where two strikes have encouraged us to see whether there should be a sanction, and the sanction was applied in 190 cases. There are no details about how many people were in hardship or partial award. I hope that that is a satisfactory explanation for the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.
The penalty applied on the two-strikes cases will not change. I hope that that gives some comfort to the Committee. It remains a fixed 13-week period, during which a customer’s benefit ceases or may be reduced. It is not necessarily removed; it can be reduced. Most importantly—this links into what is behind the hon. Member for Daventry’s question about safeguarding rights—those first convicted of a benefit fraud will receive a written warning telling them about the two strikes provision. Therefore, people will be under no illusion: if they continue to defraud the benefits system there will be a penalty with the two-strikes approach. Any right of customers to request hardship payments will not change either. I hope that gives some comfort to the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.
These payments will help to ensure that the basic needs of vulnerable customers or those with families continue to be met. No deductions are made from retirement pensions, benefits paid for children, or disability living allowance, while an underlying entitlement remains to passported housing benefit and free school meals.
I hope that members of the Committee will appreciate that we are extending the time for very good reason. We want to root benefit fraud out of the system. We have also built in safeguards so that those who are vulnerable will have protection under the new system. Most of all, we will make clear to customers who have a tendency—as I say, we are talking about very small numbers here—to defraud the system what the penalties are for that action. With that explanation, I trust that the Committee will accept the clause.