PA
Tougher rules on benefits will form part of a Tory plan to get more people into work, Jeremy Hunt will say.
The Chancellor will use his speech at the Conservative Party conference to promise the national living wage will increase to at least £11 an hour from April.
But alongside that he will look again at the benefit sanctions regime to make it harder for people to claim welfare while refusing to take “active steps” to move into work, with proposals due to be set out in November’s Autumn Statement.
The plans to make work pay come as the Tory party is embroiled in a row over tax policy, with Cabinet minister Michael Gove pushing for cuts before the election to help working households.
Tax cuts
Mr Hunt has insisted that tax cuts in the Autumn Statement are unlikely, with the focus on reducing inflation, but the Tories are likely to have a full Budget in the spring before any election in 2024 which could provide an opportunity for a giveaway to woo voters.
The main speech at the conference will be from Mr Hunt, who will confirm plans to boost the wages of the lowest paid on the second day of the Manchester gathering.
Mr Hunt and Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride are expected to use November’s Autumn Statement to set out tough welfare reforms.
“I am incredibly proud to live in a country where, as Churchill said, there’s a ladder everyone can climb but also a safety net below which no-one falls,” Mr Hunt will say.
“But paying for that safety net is a social contract that depends on fairness to those in work alongside compassion to those who are not.
Sanctions regime
“That means work must pay, and we’re making sure it does. From last year, for the first time ever, you can earn £1,000 a month without paying a penny of tax or national insurance.
“But since the pandemic, things have being going in the wrong direction. Whilst companies struggle to find workers, around 100,000 people are leaving the labour force every year for a life on benefits.
“As part of that we will look at the way the sanctions regime works. It is a fundamental matter of fairness.
“Those who won’t even look for work do not deserve the same benefits as people trying hard to do the right thing.”
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