http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012...art-time-work/
Part timers(which will include me
), I really feel for you
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Despite this Universal Credit seems tailor made to punish any minimum wage worker who cannot find work for 35 hours a week. Under the new regime those earning less than 35 hours a week will face ‘work conditionality requirements’ that may mean obtaining or keeping part time work is impossible. Claimants will be forced to attend work related interviews and carry out intensive job search to find full time work during any hours they are not currently working.
Workers will face brutal sanctions for non-compliance. Under the new rules a part time workers must be prepared to attend an interview for a job with longer hours within 48 hours of being dictated to do so by the DWP. Should they fail to attend then they will face sanctions. Should this happen more than twice then they will be sanctioned for up to three years, even if they have children to support.
Part time workers will also have to be prepared to hand in their notice and leave as soon as legally possible should they be offered a position with longer hours.
It is clear that this will lead to anomalies. Someone working 30 hours a week may be forced to immediately leave and take up a 32 hour a week job. The same will apply to someone working 10 hours a week, who may be forced to leave to work somewhere else for 12 hours. Until the magic figure of 35 hours a week is reached, claimants will be continually hounded in and out of work.
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And quite unfairly...
Quote:
As ever these new rules are to be strictly targeted at the low paid only. Part time workers who earn enough to meet the weekly income threshold – which is to be the weekly amount earned by someone working minimum wage for 35 hours a week – will still be eligible for in work benefits without being forced to look for longer hours.
Therefore a professional worker, who earns for example £20 p/h for eleven hours a week, will be exempt for these new rules and still eligible for in work benefits without harassment from the DWP. A supermarket workers who works 30 hours a week however will be under constant pressure to increase their hours or leave their job.
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