Family law expert Dr Ruth Cain says temporary and part-time workers may be subject to job centre surveillance following the introduction of Universal Credit (UC), the Government’s new benefits regime.
Dr Cain says: ‘Many may not be aware that once the new regime is in place, predicted to cover the whole country from 2017, they may be subject to job centre surveillance, sanctions and even workfare if they claim what used to be child and working tax credits. This is because claims for UC will require the claimant to seek “more or better paid work” if they fail to earn the equivalent of 35 hours at minimum wage per week.’
In a post published on the London School of Economics’ Engenderings blog, Dr Cain explores the gendered impact of UC on lone-parent and low-paid families. She argues that the latest reforms completely alter the current law covering state supplementation of low paid work, and marks an unprecedented expansion of the class of the ‘workless’ to include the ‘part-workless’.
Earlier today, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published the results of a major study that found a surge in the number of temporary and part-time jobs is promoting inequality.
Dr Cain writes in her post: ‘UC also mandates new forms of behavioural demands on claimants, out of work or not: the new Claimant Commitment requires ‘workless’ claimants to devote a full 35 hour week to evidenced jobsearching, overlooked by their ‘work coach’ (JobCentrePlus advisor). In a new development known as in-work conditionality, UC requires claimants receiving less than the amount of a minimum wage job at 35 hours per week to seek ‘more or better paid work’ – and the jobsearch and evidence requirements will also apply to them.’
Dr Cain is Lecturer in Law at Kent Law School. Her research is interdisciplinary and focuses primarily on family, parenting and mental health issues. She has published several articles on the politics and governance of motherhood, law and parenting, mental health and law and literature/cultural studies. Forthcoming publications include a full-length article on the impact of UC on unemployed and working-poor families, and a study of neoliberal maternal anxiety in crime fiction. Her book Privatised Mothers: Neoliberal Confessional Writing in the Age of Parental Anxiety will be published by Routledge this year.