Unemployment benefits in the UK are primarily provided through:

• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) – now largely replaced by Universal Credit
• Universal Credit – for people who are unemployed or on low income

Income Support is a means-tested benefit designed to help people on a low income who are not required to sign on as unemployed.

However, Income Support is being phased out and replaced by Universal Credit for most new claimants. Needs to move to Universal Credit for existing claimants.

Universal Credit (including unemployment support) costs the government around £30–35 Billion annually in 2025–26.

Covers over 5.8 million claimants, including:

• 1.4 million unemployed • 2.2 million in work • 1.1 million with health conditions or disabilities • 1.1 million carers and parents

Eligibility must be tightened, and any relief should be tapered. The system must also account for other benefits and personal circumstances to ensure fairness.

The minimum wage is a base to ensure credits and salary do not exceed it, so avoiding not making work pay.

New approach to increase income and opportunities of all claimants. Example would be with single parents, to ensure that they have taken all necessary steps to obtain any child support from the other biological parent, before they are assessed.

Hope that Food Banks, will no longer be needed and a distant memory for the many people, who rely on them now.

The policy fixing benefits to one inflation rate on one date (September) to provide figures for annual increase, needs revising as this can distort the true cost of living for claimants. Plus it maybe tax revenues have not kept up with inflation and so cannot be paid out at that inflation adjusted level without other changes to the figures.

Note not all spending increases can keep up with inflation and the sense of entitlement and automatically adding it, must be changed.