685.This section provides for benefit to be reduced (in respect of IS) or withdrawn (in respect of JSA or TAs) where an offender is in breach of a community sentence.
686.The provisions are triggered after a court has determined that a community sentence has been breached.
687.Subsection (1) states that these provisions apply when a court has determined that that an offender has failed to comply with the terms of his community sentence without reasonable excuse. The Secretary of State will be notified by the Probation Service of a determination where the offender is, or becomes entitled to, a relevant benefit.
688.Subsection (2) provides that a relevant benefit shall not be payable for a “prescribed period”, which is the period for which the benefit will be withdrawn. Initially, regulations will provide for the prescribed period to be 4 weeks. Subsection (7) (below) sets an overriding maximum period of 26 weeks.
689.Subsection (3) provides for IS to be paid at a reduced rate for the prescribed period rather than withdrawn completely. Details of the reduction will be prescribed in regulations. The broad aim is that the reduction regime will be similar to that which will apply in JSA cases where hardship is established.
690.Subsection (4) enables regulations to prescribe that JSA recipients may be eligible for a reduced rate of benefit during the prescribed period, providing they satisfy certain conditions. These conditions will be similar to the hardship provisions which currently apply in JSA. If hardship is established and the claimant satisfies the other conditions of entitlement, the claimant will be awarded a reduced payment of income-based JSA. The reduction is normally a sum equivalent to 40% of the appropriate single person's allowance, whether or not the claimant is a single person. However, if someone in the claimant’s family is seriously ill or pregnant the reduction is 20%.
691.Subsection (5) provides that payments made under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 (TAs) to participants on certain training schemes and employment programmes shall not be payable for the prescribed period except to the prescribed extent. It is intended that the element of any TA which equates with the participant’s underlying JSA entitlement will be withdrawn. Any additional premium, top-up or payment of expenses will remain payable, subject to continued participation in the scheme or programme.
692.The basic element of a TA is equal to the amount of JSA which the participant would be entitled to if he were not engaged in the training scheme or employment programme. In addition, he may receive a training premium or top-up (the amount of which depends on the scheme concerned) plus payment of certain expenses. It is intended that the sanction will apply only to the basic element. For example, a young single person participating in the Voluntary Sector option of the New Deal for Young People receives an allowance consisting of a basic element of £41.35 a week (at 2000 rates), plus a weekly top-up of £15.38. The sanction would mean that the £41.35 would not be paid for 4 weeks, but the £15.38 would remain in payment (provided the young person continued to participate in New Deal). Some types of payments under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 – such as those payable in Employment Zones – will be excluded from these provisions.
693.Subsection (6) provides for the payment of arrears in the event that a decision that an offender has breached the terms of his sentence is subsequently quashed or set aside by a Court.
694.Subsection (7) precribes a maximum length of 26 weeks for the “prescribed period”. The intention for the pilot exercises is that this period will be for 4 weeks only. Regulations will specify the date from which the restriction will commence (Section 65(2)). This will usually be the first full benefit week after the decision to impose a restriction is made. This avoids the need to calculate part-week payments.
695.Definitions of the terms used in this provision are set out in subsection (8).
696.Subsection (9) provides that where the “relevant benefit” is a TA, then references in this section to “entitlement to benefit” also refer to cases where a TA is in payment. TAs are payable at the discretion of the Secretary of State under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973: technically there is no entitlement to an allowance.
697.Subsection (11) modifies the provisions of section 62 so as to make them applicable to Scotland.
Part III: Social Security Administration Commentary on Sections Section 62: Loss of benefit for breach of community order.