The measures in the Act
675.The measures in this Part of the Act will allow the Secretary of State for Social Security to withdraw or reduce benefit where a person fails to comply with a designated community sentence. The sanction will be for a fixed period (to be prescribed in regulations) and will commence after a court has determined that a community sentence has been breached.
676.The measures in respect of Social Security benefits, which are a matter reserved to Westminster, cover Great Britain. The payment of training allowances is a devolved matter for Scotland. The provisions in this part of the Act relating to the loss of Training Allowances apply in England and Wales only, and this part of the Act provides that such allowances paid by Scottish Ministers will not be withdrawn under these measures.
677.In the first instance, the measure will be piloted in separate areas in England and Wales to test the links between Social Security offices and the Probation Service within a single criminal justice system and to assess the behavioural impact on offenders. For the duration of the pilots, the sanction period will be set at four weeks and will apply in respect of probation orders, community service orders and combination orders.
678.During the pilot phase, the scheme will cover people aged between 18 and 59. The benefits that will be affected are Jobseeker’s Allowance* (JSA), Income Support* (IS) and also the JSA-equivalent element of certain training allowances* (TAs).
679.For recipients of both contributory and income-based JSA, the benefit will not be payable for the period of the sanction. Housing Benefit, and any other “passported” benefit entitlements, will not be affected. For example, a JSA recipient aged 25, with no dependants or housing costs, would normally be entitled to £52.20 per week (the April 2000 rate of personal allowance for a single adult aged over 25). If the court decided he had breached a community sentence, the full amount – £52.20 – would be withdrawn for four weeks. Circumstances will be prescribed in which, after two weeks, he could be entitled to a reduced payment of JSA (a “hardship payment”) of £31.30 per week. Entitlement to a hardship payment would depend on his personal circumstances, taking into account any income or capital which he may possess.
680.If a JSA claimant falls into a vulnerable group, he could apply for hardship payments from the first day of the 4-week period. This is in line with the current provisions for hardship payments arising from employment condition sanctions. The term “vulnerable group” refers to the group of people specified in regulation 140(1) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996 and includes, among others, those responsible for a child or young person and those where either the claimant or partner would be entitled to a disability-related premium.
681.There will be slightly different arrangements in place to deal with JSA claims made under the “joint claim” arrangements. If either of the couple are found to be in breach of a community sentence, benefit will not be payable in respect of that member of the couple. This is referred to in more detail in the commentary on sections (section 63).
682.For IS claimants, the effect of the sanction will be to reduce the amount of benefit in payment, rather than to withdraw payment of the benefit in its entirety. The effect of this measure on a lone parent with one child aged under 11, receiving IS, would be to reduce benefit entitlement by 40% of the single adult rate – a reduction of £20.88 per week at April 2000 rates. This means that for a period of 4 weeks, weekly benefit of £73.82 would be payable, instead of the full rate of £94.70.
683.The Secretary of State will not be able to extend the measure to other benefits or to other types of community sentence without making regulations which would be required to be passed by resolution of both Houses of Parliament (the affirmative procedure).
