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Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, in Grand Committee, the Government were pressed by my noble friend Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester, and many other noble Lords on the important issue of support for jobseekers under threat of domestic violence. The Government were persuaded by the force of the arguments so skilfully presented and on 2 July my noble friend announced in Grand Committee that we would bring forward a government amendment to address this issue. Amendment 58 inserts a new paragraph into Schedule 1 of the Jobseekers Act 1995, which will introduce an automatic 13-week exemption from the jobseeker’s allowance conditionality rules for victims of domestic violence. It will place in the Bill a provision to ensure that such victims will be able to receive jobseeker’s allowance without being required to comply with the jobseeking requirements. They would not be required to enter into a jobseeker’s agreement if one is not already in place, would not be required to be available for work and would not be required actively to seek work. The amendment includes provision for secondary legislation to deal with more detailed issues, such as the exact definition of what constitutes domestic violence and the circumstances in which the exemption will be applied. I hope that noble Lords will be pleased that this new exemption is in addition to the current, discretionary period allowable for domestic emergencies. This means that, in extreme cases, a claimant with children who is suffering from domestic violence, or the threat of the same, may be excused from the jobseeking requirements for up to 24 weeks in a 12-month period. I beg to move.