Part 2 – Working-age benefits
13.This Part of the Act makes provision for changes to the responsibilities of claimants of JSA, ESA and IS in the period leading up to the introduction of universal credit and the abolition of income-based JSA, income-related ESA and IS (the interim period). In particular provision is made for the introduction of a claimant commitment. The claimant commitment will be a record of the requirements claimants are expected to meet in order to receive benefit and the consequences should they fail to do so.
14.Once universal credit is introduced, ESA and JSA will continue alongside universal credit as contributory benefits. As well as the changes to be made in the interim period, this Part also introduces longer-term reforms to align ESA and JSA more closely with the provisions for universal credit. Sections 49 and 57 insert new sections into the JA 1995 and the WRA 2007 which replicate those for universal credit which relate to work-related requirements and sanctions, apart from where differences are necessary, so that what can be expected of a claimant of contributory JSA or ESA is the same as it would be for a similar claimant of universal credit.
