
The Socialist 1 July 2020
Tories put profit before lives

A socialist NHS fit for heroes
PCS: Change in leadership needed to secure union's future
Sunday trading: Government blinks first
Trade unionists stand in solidarity with Maxine Peake
Equity union president elections
Workers need a new mass party to defend their interests
Tories put profit before lives
Tory full return to school plans gamble with lives
Yes to self-identity: Fight for trans rights
Benefits system being used to force return to unsafe workplaces
Leeds City Council in danger of bankruptcy
Capitalism and corruption go hand in hand
I left Labour and want to end capitalism - join us in Socialist Party
Cardiff community fights nursery closure: Council must step in
Fighting Fund: Target smashed by half time
Black Lives Matter has not stopped - protesters flock to Socialists
Red flags line road for Ken Douglas
75th anniversary of the Attlee Labour government
From slavery to Black Lives Matter - racism and capitalist injustice exposed
PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT
020 8988 8777

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1093/30995
![]() | |||
Home | The Socialist 1 July 2020 | Join the Socialist Party
Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook
'Conditionality' returns to DWP
Benefits system being used to force return to unsafe workplaces
A Jobcentre worker
As previously reported in the Socialist, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which oversees the payment of unemployment benefit to millions, had previously eased the requirements for claiming Universal Credit. This involved removing the obligation for claimants to sign a "claimant commitment", outlining how they would spend up to 35 hours a week looking for work.
From July, as the government looks to increase the number of people attending Jobcentres, the claimant commitment is to be phased back in.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents tens of thousands of staff working on the benefits system, has written to the DWP to challenge this reintroduction. The DWP has replied that it is under orders from the Tory government.
When pushed on how claimants could be expected just to revert to 'business as usual' in the current state of economic dislocation, the DWP merely answered that Work Coaches - staff who work in Jobcentres - had 'sufficient flexibility' to take the Covid situation into account. What exactly this 'flexibility' was, the DWP did not elaborate.
Members of the PCS Broad Left Network, in which the Socialist Party participates, are actively preparing material to be sent out to Work Coaches. It will advise on giving maximum support to claimants and how to avoid 'sanctions' - the stoppage or reduction of a claimant's benefit for some perceived infraction of the complex rules of the system.
In-depth academic studies have proved that sanctions do not work, most recently in 2018 from the multi-university Welfare Conditionality project. The United Nations and others have decried them as 'human rights abuses', and there is a well-established link between strict benefit conditionality and reduced mental health, as already vulnerable people are subjected to intense stress to participate in programmes or apply for jobs, the suitability of which is doubtful.
Amid this economic crisis, a trade union-led campaign to increase the money paid through benefits to the level of a living wage, and to root out of the system all vestige of sanctions, is sorely needed.
Trade unionists need to ensure that no one is forced back into workplaces that are not safe and do not have safety measures fully implemented to stop the risk of the spread of Covid-19. We must oppose the benefit system being used to force workers into unsafe workplaces.
Reopening Jobcentres: Don't risk claimants' and staff safety
The PCS union will be put to the test over the DWP management's plan to bring people back in to attend face-to-face appointments in Jobcentres. Claimants will be pressured to attend despite the safety risks posed to members and claimants.
This is likely to come to a head in the next few days. The union must actively resist this pressure to open the doors - except for continuing to give help to the most urgent cases who cannot be dealt with in any other way.
If management ploughs ahead without our agreement, the union must organise members to refuse to compromise their safety in opening the doors.
Socialist Party members in the PCS
In this issue
No going back
A socialist NHS fit for heroes
Workplace news
PCS: Change in leadership needed to secure union's future
Sunday trading: Government blinks first
Trade unionists stand in solidarity with Maxine Peake
Equity union president elections
What we think
Workers need a new mass party to defend their interests
News
Tories put profit before lives
Tory full return to school plans gamble with lives
Yes to self-identity: Fight for trans rights
Benefits system being used to force return to unsafe workplaces
Leeds City Council in danger of bankruptcy
Capitalism and corruption go hand in hand
Campaigns
I left Labour and want to end capitalism - join us in Socialist Party
Cardiff community fights nursery closure: Council must step in
Fighting Fund: Target smashed by half time
Black Lives Matter has not stopped - protesters flock to Socialists
Red flags line road for Ken Douglas
Lessons from history
75th anniversary of the Attlee Labour government
Readers' opinion
From slavery to Black Lives Matter - racism and capitalist injustice exposed
Related links:
Books that inspired me: The Road to Wigan Pier
Life in lockdown - being home from school when you're poor is hard
Bosses profit out of 'starvation' food parcels
Make the super-rich pay, not the poorest
No surprise, poverty is rising
PCS: No to DWP management's plans - Yes to action
PCS members in DWP reject unsafe extension of hours
Vote Yes in DWP ballot! Reject longer opening hours
PCS union: Reject longer DWP opening hours
Film: 'Sick' - 'They've got people looking in the wrong direction'
Jobcentre reopening: only union struggle will put safety first
Fight for safety, staffing and services - Covid chaos for benefits claimants
Rolls-Royce Barnoldswick factory future secured following strike action