The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will remove entitlement to four benefits, including the state pension, for individuals convicted of certain serious offences and detained in hospital, with the change taking effect from early next year.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden announced in a statement to Parliament that the DWP will lay regulations removing benefit entitlement from serious and violent offenders detained in hospital. The affected benefits are universal credit, employment and support allowance, state pension and pension credit.
Offences covered by the new rules
The regulations will apply to individuals convicted of specified serious offences who are subject to either a section 37 order under the Mental Health Act 1983 or a section 57A order under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. The change is limited to offences involving death, serious personal injury or sexual harm, and will not affect those unfit to plead or detained under a civil order or an offence not included in the regulations.
For England and Wales, the offences in scope include manslaughter, attempted murder, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, rape, assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent (aggravated, with penetration), rape of a child under 13, sexual assault of a child under 13 (aggravated, with penetration), causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity (aggravated, with penetration), sexual activity with a child, and familial sexual offences involving a child family member where the offender is 18 or over. Murder is not included because a Hospital Order is not an available disposal for that offence, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Savings and scope of the change
Under the current system, an offender can be paid over £800 a month in universal credit, amounting to thousands of pounds in taxpayer money over several years. The proposed change is expected to save tens of millions of pounds each year.
The change will stop hundreds of offenders receiving benefits from early next year, covering both those already in hospital and future cases. It will affect approximately 2,500 offenders already in hospital and around 200 a year in the future. The regulations will apply to both existing and future cases from the point they come into force, regardless of when the conviction was made.
The change will not affect people currently detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 who have not committed any offence.
