Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 9:07 pm on 22 May 2000.

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Photo of Baroness Hollis of Heigham Baroness Hollis of Heigham Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Social Security 9:07, 22 May 2000

Amendment No. 176A corrects a drafting error in the Bill. It provides for hardship payments to be made to couples who would have been entitled to a joint-claim jobseeker's allowance but for the application of a community sentence sanction to both members, or a community sentence sanction to one member and an employment-related sanction to the other. In those cases, we wish to ensure that JSA hardship payments can be made, as would be the case in the event of both members of the joint-claim couple being subject to employment sanctions. In cases where one member of the couple is subject to a community sentence sanction the Bill, as drafted, already allows for both reduced rate payments of JSA and hardship payments to be made; in other words, it is entirely benign.

It has always been our intention that joint-claim couples who are subject to community sentence sanctions should have the protection of hardship payments. But the Bill as drafted does not achieve our intention. This amendment puts into place powers similar to those in Section 20B of the Jobseekers Act, which enables hardship payments to be made to joint-claim couples in the event of both of them being subject to an employment sanction.

We intend to use these powers to make regulations that will enable hardship payments to be made to members of joint claim couples along similar lines to couples who are subject to employment sanctions. I beg to move.