Serwotka condemns Hunt's “disastrous, punitive” plans to clamp down on benefit claimants

Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka has condemned Jeremy Hunt’s “disastrous” and “punitive” plans to clamp down on benefit claimants. 

Mark Serwotka said: “Benefit sanctions have been shown time and again to be ineffective at getting jobless people into work. Instead, they reduce those affected to poverty and ill-health.

“This disastrous, punitive policy is an attempt by a mean-spirited Chancellor to shift attention from the government’s economic failings and an attempt to inflict more misery on already poor people to boost their vote.

“It’s our members – not Jeremy Hunt – who will have to implement this policy. It’s our members in Job Centres who are in the firing line while MPs hide behind ever-increasing rhetoric against the poorest in society. 

“Our members showed during the pandemic what could be achieved when allowed to focus on supporting claimants. They treat benefit claimants with respect, wanting to help them into work or provide much needed financial support, not punish them.” 

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