Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 2013

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lister of Burtersett]

My Lords, I want to make a very brief point. However, it is a positive point, after having been rather critical of the Universal Credit Regulations.

During our discussions on the Bill, I raised on a number of occasions my concern that there had been a suggestion that the payment of contributory benefits might be wrapped up with universal credit. That would mean that it would all go into one bank account even though contributory JSA is an individual entitlement. Therefore, I am delighted that that will not happen. I simply seek an assurance from the Minister that no step will be taken to make that happen without first debating it in both Houses of Parliament. It is an important issue and it could mean the loss of individual entitlement, particularly for many women who have now come within the contributory benefit system.

[Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope]

It is still a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness because she made a point that I was going to make. I want to make two remarks on which I would like the Minister to reflect. The first is about the contributory system—the national insurance system. In the middle of last year, I remember listening with great attention to a lecture given by a valued friend, Malcolm Wicks, who sadly died recently. He was a great defender of the national contributory system. He gave a lecture on how he melded the concept of citizenship with the national insurance principle. He said that this involved a lifetime longitudinal commitment both ways between the state and the individual, with people paying in and people taking out, and that people understood that. He was an exponent of that all his life and I certainly miss his good counsel and wisdom. I share his view. We cannot allow these regulations to pass without remarking that this is another notch down in the diminishing of the national insurance principle. I regret that. I understand why the Government are doing it because otherwise the misalignment would be confusing. If you are introducing universal credit, I understand the rationale and it makes perfect sense. However, universal credit does not have the advantage that the national insurance contributory principle had of giving a longer-term relationship between the state and the individual. I want to put that on the record in passing.

Secondly, conditionality for people who are paying national insurance contributions suggests to me that people should perhaps pay less because they now have to submit themselves to sanctions. I have a strong view on sanctions and earlier today the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, reflected some of that. I take the Paul Gregg view that sanctions are positive only if you can get the full commitment of the individual who might be potentially taking on a jobseeker’s commitment that will lead to sanctions, and if they feel that they are in charge of the process. That is not the case with the system of conditionality as it is currently cast, although with a bit of flexibility it might be amended in that direction to put people in a position where they feel they are more in control of what is going on. They are then much more likely to understand the rationale of a sanction being applied to them. That is work in progress. I hope it will be part of the careful evaluation that the Minister explained to us earlier this afternoon the Government will undertake.

My points really comprise two moans about national insurance that I am getting off my chest. I do not expect the Government to do anything about it. However, these regulations change things in a way that is significant for the future of the national insurance system. Indeed, perhaps in the long term, once universal credit gets into a steady state, the Government of the day—whoever they may be—may want to ask themselves whether it is sensible to continue to have a residual diminishing national insurance contributory principle set of benefits running alongside universal credit. I am agnostic about that but I certainly think that it needs to be recognised in this important debate.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. I am fully supportive of the probing that my noble friend Lady Donaghy has done, particularly around the construction sector, on which she is very knowledgeable. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, that, given the increasing demise of the contributory principle, it is important to consider how we re-establish that in this context, if we can. Of course, there has been an accelerated demise in various benefits. We shall talk about contributory ESA in a moment, but that is now payable for just one year and JSA is generally payable for just six months.

The Minister explained that these regulations refer just to contributory JSA and not to earnings-related JSA. I believe that he referred to my next point in introducing the regulations but, to be clear, I understand that as regards the entitlement under these arrangements, the national insurance contribution rules remain exactly the same as they are at the moment. In respect of national insurance credits, under current circumstances these can be obtained when the claimant satisfies the qualifying conditions for JSA, when he or she is not in work and earning. Will the Minister remind us what the credit and entitlement will be under universal credit when JSA is no longer with us? The Explanatory Memorandum recites that the rules for contributory entitlement are, except for the conditionality and sanctions regimes on which the Minister touched, “largely” unchanged. Will he particularise a little any other significant changes outside those two areas? As regards the alignment of the conditionality and sanctions regimes, we obviously see the merit of this and these regulations give us an opportunity to explore further how that actually works across the three benefits, including ESA.

Like others, I am grateful to Gingerbread, which briefed us on this matter, particularly as regards its focus on lone parent flexibilities, which was touched on extensively in our earlier debate. I will not go over that again except to say that I think the Minister said in response to the debate that 10 out of the 12 lone parent flexibilities are being carried forward, albeit in guidance rather than in regulations. I apologise if he covered this point earlier, but will he remind us which two are not being carried forward? We are aware that he has been pressed on flexibilities and that these should be set out clearly in the claimant commitment so that both the adviser and the single parent claimant can share the same understanding of what the regulations and guidance say about balancing work conditionality with caring responsibilities. It is understood that the noble Lord’s colleague in another place was sympathetic to this. Perhaps the Minister can say whether he agrees. It seems an ideal way of ensuring that all concerned are clear on the matter and it would help to focus the minds of advisers who may not always be up to date with the range of flexibilities available.