New Clause 6
Welfare Reform Bill
12:30 pm
Jimmy Hood (Lanark and Hamilton East, Labour)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: new clause 7—Implementation of sanctions in relation to income—
‘External providers and jobcentres shall not apply sanctions under this Act when the job offered to a claimant provides a lower income than that provided by unemployment benefits.’.
New clause 8—Means inquiry before sanctions imposed—
‘(1) In any case where regulations made by the Secretary of State under this Act or other powers contain provisions for the imposition of sanctions resulting in the loss or reduction of any sum in benefit, the regulations shall contain a duty that before any sanction is imposed—
(a) a means inquiry is conducted as to the means of the person on the day;
(b) regard shall be had to the welfare of any person residing with him;
(c) regard shall be had to a medical report as to his/her physical and mental well-being and any person residing with him/her;
(d) any sanction resulting in loss or reduction of benefit will be reasonable in the circumstances;
(e) regard shall be had to the impact of any deduction on the ability of the person to pay costs in respect of the accommodation which he/she may occupy.
(2) Following consideration of the matters prescribed in paragraph (1) the decision maker shall then determine whether the income remaining to the person who will be subject to the sanction falls below the minimum figure for income in one week which is set by the Secretary of State.
(3) If any sanction is imposed following the inquiries in (1) above of any sanction, the decision-maker shall ensure that no person will be left either with a total income which is either below the minimum figure for income set by the Secretary of State or in any other case is no more than two thirds of the amount in benefit payable to the person in any one week during which it is proposed that the sanction shall operate, unless the relevant amount of benefit payable in any one week is £5.00 or below.
(4) Where the means inquiry establishes that a person is already subject to deductions from benefit which but for the effect of this subsection would result in the amount of benefit available to the person in any one week falling below the amount set by the Secretary of State, the imposition of any deduction shall be suspended.
(5) Any regulations made by the Secretary of State permitting or allowing any sanction resulting in loss or reduction of benefit to any person shall be subject to a right of appeal.
(6) Any person affected by a sanction imposed may appeal to the Secretary of State for a variation of the amount, provided that no variation however occasioned shall as a result leave the person with less than the sum prescribed in regulations under paragraph 2.’.