MORE than 100,000 Universal Credit claimants will have to step up their search for work or face having their benefits cut, Jeremy Hunt will confirm today.
The Chancellor is announcing plans to raise the minimum amount they must work before having to engage with government jobs coaches.
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He is raising this “Administrative Earnings Threshold” from 15 to 18 hours per week.
It means anyone currently working fewer than 18 hours will have fresh requirements to meet with DWP officials to find more work.
And if they do not they risk having their benefits cut.
The Chancellor’s “back to work” Budget also encourages more than 700,000 parents on Universal Credit to get a job or raise their hours with new measures.
In return Mr Hunt is introducing sweeping childcare changes to let mums and dads go to work.
Childcare payments will be paid up front rather than in arrears in a big win for the Sun’s Make Universal Credit Work campaign.
And the childcare allowance for claimants will be hiked from £646 a month for a single child to £950, and from £1,108 for two children to £1,630.
The hike comes alongside a huge £4billion childcare giveaway that will hand parents 30 free hours a week for one and two-year-olds.
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It expands the existing 30 hours scheme for working parents of three and four-year olds.
Mr Hunt is trying to tackle the nine million economically inactive Brits dragging on the economy while the country grapples with record vacancies.
As well as young parents he also wants to stop over-50s retiring early, and to get the ones who have quit work “off the golf course” and back into jobs.
Skills bootcamps will be expanded for older workers to retrain in key sectors like construction and tech.
Disabled Brits will also be lured into work with a plan with a promise they will not lose their benefits.
The burdensome Work Capability Assessment will be scrapped so they do not have to jump through hoops to get health benefits.
