Major DWP Job Seekers Allowance changes announced with two benefits to merge

Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment Support Allowance (EMA) benefits could be merged under new plans

Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) benefits are being shaken up by the government in major Department for Work and Pensions welfare reforms.

Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment Support Allowance (EMA) benefits could be merged under new plans from the government to shake-up the benefits system.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall says contributions-based jobseekers allowance and employment support allowance might be merged, pending consultation, into "a new time-limited unemployment insurance paid at a higher rate without having to prove you cannot work in order to get it".

The government will consult on merging jobseeker’s allowance and employment support allowance, the Work and Pensions Secretary said in the House of Commons today, which will allow people who have paid into the system to get higher benefit payments for a period of time.

The proposal would merge the two benefits into a time-limited unemployment insurance which is paid at a higher rate.

Claimants would not have to prove they are unable to work to receive it. She said: “So if you have paid into the system, you’ll get stronger income protection while we help you get back on track.”

The “complex” and “time-consuming” work capability assessment for universal credit is also to be scrapped in 2028, Ms Kendall said. The government will also bring in a “permanent, above-inflation rise” to the standard allowance of universal credit as well as legislating to “rebalance” payments for the benefit.

But universal credit claimants with severe, lifelong disabilities will not usually face benefits reassessments.

Ms Kendall told the Commons: “The Conservatives failed to switch reassessments back on after the pandemic so they’re down by more than two-thirds, with face-to-face assessments going from seven in 10 to only one in 10.

“We will turn these reassessments back on at scale and shift the focus back to doing more face-to-face. And we will ensure they are recorded as standard to give confidence to claimants and taxpayers that they’re being done properly.

“And I can also announce for people on universal credit with the most severe disabilities and health conditions that will never improve, we want to ensure that they are never reassessed to give them the confidence and dignity they deserve.

“And we will fundamentally overhaul the DWP safeguarding approach to make sure all of our processes and training are of the highest quality so we protect and support the most vulnerable people.”

Ms Kendall said the reforms mark a “decisive shift” in favour of prevention and early intervention, to stop people leaving the workforce and “fix the broken benefits system”.

Ms Kendall said the government needed to do “far more” to help people stay in work and get back to work. She included giving statutory sick pay to the lowest-earning workers, and more rights to work from home would help people stay in jobs.

The Work and Pensions Secretary told the House of Commons that plans are also being trialled for GPs to refer people to employment advisers rather than signing them off sick.

Ms Kendall said the Keep Britain Working review led by former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield will help establish what employers can do to keep people in work.

She said: “So we help more employers offer opportunities for disabled people, including through measures like reasonable adjustments, alongside our green paper consultation on reforming access to work so it is fit for the future.”

The statement continued: “This government is ambitious for our people and our country, and we believe that unleashing the talents of the British people is the key to our future success, but the social security system we inherited from the Conservatives is failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back.

“The facts speak for themselves: one in 10 people of working age now claiming a sickness or disability benefit, almost one million young people not in education, employment or training – that’s one in eight of all our young people.

“2.8 million out of work due to long-term sickness, and the number of people claiming personal independence payments set to double this decade from two to 4.3 million, with the growth in claims rising faster among young people, and mental health conditions.

“And with claims up to four times higher in parts of the Midlands, Wales and the north, where economic demand is weakest. Places that were decimated in the 80s and 90s, written-off for years by successive Tory governments and never given the chances they deserve.”