Accessing Hardship Payments

Last updated: 3.38pm, Thursday 6th April 2017 by

Job-seekers who are homeless or suffering from a mental health condition can access hardship payments immediately after a benefit sanction.

Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green announced that job-seekers who are homeless or suffer from a mental health condition will now be able to access hardship payments immediately if they receive a benefit sanction.

Although the majority of job-seekers do everything expected of them, sanctions are a necessary and long-standing part of the welfare system. They ensure that those who are able to get into the workplace are making every effort to get into the workplace, and that appropriate action is taken otherwise.

Hardship payments act as a safety net to cover day-to-day living costs, and are issued immediately to individuals who are sanctioned and meet certain criteria like having children, or a long-term health condition. Other job-seekers cannot claim payments for the first 14 days of a sanction.

The criteria will now extend immediate access to homeless people and individuals with a mental health condition.