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TORY ministers are hell-bent on making it harder for people to claim benefits, Civil Service union PCS charged today as it condemned plans to make universal credit claimants attend jobcentres 10 times in just two weeks.
The union said the “gimmicky and insulting” move, included in the so-called “jobcentre innovation pilot” launched today, increases the likelihood of already vulnerable claimants being sanctioned due to missed appointments.
A trial of incentivisation, with vouchers of up to £250 for the best-performing staff, will also not address the poverty pay of the benefit system’s workforce, it added.
DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families
In part IV of a serialisation of his new book, JOHN McINALLY tells how austerity minister Francis Maude’s attempt to destroy the PCS Civil Service union totally backfired
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
