Jeremy Hunt’s plans to toughen the rules around sanctions for Universal Credit claimants may lead to people losing their free NHS prescriptions and dental care.
In his speech to the Conservative Party conference, Hunt said the government would “look at the way the sanctions regime works”.
Press reports based on government briefings suggested that measures to be announced in next month’s Autumn Statement included closing the Universal Credit claims of those whose benefits have been sanctioned for six months, reportedly affecting 90,000 people.
Benefit sanctions are imposed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on Universal Credit claimants who are deemed not to have taken necessary steps to look for work. This includes those who miss – or in some cases are late for – jobcentre meetings. The overwhelming majority of sanctions are now imposed for this reason.
When a claimant’s benefits are sanctioned, their main payment – the ‘standard allowance’ – is typically stopped for a week or two, and is only restarted when the claimant complies with the requirements of their benefit claim, which in these cases usually means attending the jobcentre meeting they missed.
Curtesy of and full article at – New Universal Credit Sanctions Could Include Losing Free NHS Prescriptions And Dental Care (politicshome.com)
