© Nathan Stirk/Getty ImagesA Jobcentre Plus office in Tunstall, England.
Claimants will be given just four weeks - down from three months - to find a job within their preferred sector. After that point, if they fail to make "reasonable efforts" to secure a job or turn down any offer, they will have part of their universal credit payment withdrawn under a tightening of existing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policy.
Comment: What is considered "reasonable" varies depending on the advisor one is paired with; bear in mind, over the past decade and more of 'austerity' measures, Job Centres have been dogged by scandals of advisors who, incentivized by target schemes, were particularly cruel to those they were meant to be helping.
These included a man who died of a heart attack hours after being found 'fit for work'; a paraplegic fire-fighter who was hounded over whether he was 'still unfit for work'; and an anorexic mother of four who, due to being in intensive care, was sanctioned for not attending her Job Centre appointment, she was found dead shortly after in her house that was freezing cold because she was unable to pay for heating.
The move, which is part of an initiative to get 500,000 people into work by June and fill 1.2m job vacancies nationally, comes as Boris Johnson seeks to reassert control over the political agenda amid the "partygate" crisis.
Comment: For the government, it's clearly a numbers game.
Comment: What is it with governments and deadlines for draconian measures these days? First it was the NHS vaccine mandates due for enforcement in April; there was an anti-protest bill that was just smacked down in the House of Lords; and now there's another deadline for the unemployed coming up; one gets the impression that the government are trying to ram a whole load of draconian legislation through all, and one wonders just what is it making them feel such a sense of urgency?
Also note that it isn't just the UK government that are lining up these deadlines, across Europe - as well as the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia - all sorts of dystopian legislation is being drawn up. Meanwhile, over in Russia, the government just killed an attempt by some officials to pass digital IDs into law.
Is it perhaps related to the manufactured mayhem the West is whipping up in Ukraine? Is it also just because our political class have become so addled and brazen that they don't care that their mask has well and truly fallen?
- UK's "draconian" protest bill defeated at House of Lords - for now
- Bill Gates warns of pandemics 'far worse than Covid'
- HUGE protests erupt across Europe against Covid vaccine mandates & lockdowns
- Thousands protest harsh new lockdown restrictions in Amsterdam, riot police sent in
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