Welfare Bill Won't Work, Key Advisers Tell Iain Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith has been warned by his own advisers that a vital element of his flagship bill to simplify the benefits system is "unworkable and unfair".  Plans to force part-time workers to seek greater hours of employment or risk losing their benefits have been condemned as unrealistic at a time of prolonged recession by the social security advisory committee.  The committee has focused its criticisms on the pressures that will be brought to bear on Britain's burgeoning part-time workforce. The government's proposals would affect anyone earning less than they would in a 35-hour-a-week job on the minimum wage. Part-time workers could lose money for not applying sufficiently frequently for vacancies, not attending job interviews for a better paid job within 48 hours of being directed by a jobcentre, or not taking up a full-time job within 90 minutes from home – although the government says each case will be assessed on its merits.  The committee condemned the plan as "unrealistic in the current economic climate", adding: "With high underemployment – currently over one million part-time workers in the UK want to work more hours – sanctioning clients who cannot increase their hours seems to be both unworkable and unfair.  We cannot see how in-work sanctions can be policed and are concerned that customers working short hours may be penalised as a result of labour market conditions, rather than as a result of their response to the conditionality regime applicable to them."  Read more on the Observer website.