From next year, low-paid workers who take strike action will no longer have their wages topped up by the state.
Workers on up to £13,000 a year can currently claim Working Tax Credits to top up their income even when they take part in industrial action.
However from next year there will be no increase in benefits if a worker’s income drops due to strike action.
The TUC said it was a “mean-spirited” move aimed at deterring workers from standing up for their rights.
The change is part of the new Universal Credit, which is replacing the benefit system with a single payment.
Mr Duncan Smith says the fact that the current benefit system compensates workers and tops up their income when they go on strike is
“unfair and creates perverse incentives”.
“Striking is a choice, and in future benefit claimants will have to pay the price for that choice, as under Universal Credit, we no longer will,”
said Mr Duncan Smith.
Under the new rules, benefit claimants will be identified as being involved in a trade dispute using information provided by HM Revenue and Customs, the government said.
The amount a household receives in benefits will then be assessed using the normal, “non-strike” level of earnings.
