Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Bill — Second Reading — 19 Mar 2013 at 16:50

The majority of MPs voted to retrospectively replace regulations relating to schemes for helping people obtain employment which those claiming Jobseekers Allowance can be required to take part in. The majority of MPs voted to put regulations compliant with the law in place after a court quashed the previous regulations on the ground they did not properly describe the schemes. The court also found notices issued to claimants in relation to the schemes were not compliant with the regulations.

The majority of MPs voted to approve the Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Bill^[1] at its second reading, approving the main principles of the Bill and allowing it to continue on its path to becoming law.

The retrospective action provided for in the Bill was designed to prevent prevent the Government having to pay an estimated £130 million^[2] to those whose Jobseekers Allowance had been sanctioned under the requlations quashed by the court. This Bill was considered emergency primary legislation and fast-tracked to avoid the liability.

The The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Employment, Skills and Enterprise Scheme) Regulations 2011 were quashed by the Court of Appeal on 12 February 2013 in the case of R (on the application of Reilly and Wilson) vs Secretary of State for Work and Pensions ([2013 EWCA Civ 66)] on the ground that the Regulations did not contain an appropriate description of the Employment, Skills and Enterprise Scheme as required by the Jobseekers Act 1995.

The Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Bill provides for new regulations, The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Schemes for Assisting Persons to Obtain Employment) Regulations 2013, to be treated retrospectively as replacing those quashed by the court and deals with similar flaws in the The Jobseeker’s Allowance (Mandatory Work Activity Scheme) Regulations 2011.

The schemes described by the replacement regulations are:

• Day One Support for Young People
• The Derbyshire Mandatory Youth Activity Programme
• Full-time Training Flexibility
• New Enterprise Allowance
• The sector-based work academy
• Skills Conditionality
• The Work Programme

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Bill
• [2] Explanatory notes to the Bill

Debate in Parliament | Source |