UK Gov to Withhold Welfare Cheques
The AFP reports:
SEOUL — The government unveiled a radical shake-up of the welfare state Thursday, saying it would withhold benefit payments for up to three years from those who refuse to take jobs.
Prime Minister David Cameron's government wants to introduce a sliding scale of penalties for those who either decline a job offer, fail to apply for a job they are advised to or do not turn up for mandatory four-week work placements.
The weekly 65 pound unemployment benefit will be withheld for three months from those who violate any of the three conditions.
That would rise to six months for a second violation and three years for a third, aides said.
The announcement came as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith prepared to give details of the universal credit, a single welfare payment which officials say will simplify the current complex benefits system and make two and a half million people better off.
Cameron's coalition government, which took power in May, describes the plans as the most radical since the wide-ranging welfare state was put in place just after World War II.
