Citizens Advice concerned by further welfare cuts

Chancellor George Osborne plans to cut the annual welfare bill by a further £4billion by targeting people out of work. Mr Osborne said that welfare spending was "completely out of control" and he wanted to stop people just "sitting on out-of-work benefits" and not attempting to find work.

Citizens Advice believes that people on jobseekers allowance are already subject to thorough jobseeker’s directions imposed by the government and are also subject to sanctions if the Social Security Agency is not satisfied that they are meeting these directions. Simultaneously the majority of jobseekers want to work but are not able to get employment.  Jobseekers allowance for a single person is £51.45 if aged under 25 and £65.85 for those over 25 and is therefore not a financial incentive to remain on benefit.

The details of the further cuts have not yet been announced and Citizens Advice is urging the government to make the system fairer and simpler rather than hitting the vulnerable harshly with the spending cuts.