Unemployed who ‘refuse to engage’ could lose benefits in Hunt crackdown

Chancellor to launch 2.5bn back to work plan' in autumn statement aimed at increasing workforce participation

Welfare claimants who refuse" to engage with their jobcentre or take work offered to them may lose benefits, under plans confirmed by the chancellor before next week's autumn statement.

The crackdown, first floated by Jeremy Hunt in his Conservative party conference speech in October, is part of a wider government plan to tackle a decline in workforce participation since the Covid pandemic. It could see those sanctioned denied access not just to welfare payments but associated benefits such as free prescriptions or help with energy bills.