THE threat of losing Job Seeker’s Allowance could “focus the mind” of the long-term unemployed, according to one man who found work after more than two years.

James Heavens, from Headington, Oxford, cautiously welcomed new proposals to get Britons off the dole, but said new measures would have to be handled with care.

The coalition Government says unemployed people who turn down offers of work, refuse to apply for appropriate jobs or fail to turn up for mandatory community work will lose their £65-a-week Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) for up to three years for repeat offenders.

The proposals, included in the Welfare Reform White Paper, are intended to be operational before 2013 to cut the bill for the 1.5 million people who claim JSA.

Mr Heavens, from Headington, was unemployed for two and a half years before becoming a solar-panel installer for Oxford-based EnergyMyWay.

He said: “When I was on benefits there was a chance of doing voluntary work which I found was quite good.

“When you’re on benefits for quite a long time that lazy sort of thing sets in, and I found doing voluntary work was a good move.”

The 43-year-old former delivery driver, who said “the days of leaving a job on Friday and starting a new one on Monday are long gone”, expressed mixed feelings about the prospect of JSA being taken away.

He said: “That would have focused my mind because it’s an incentive to help you find work.

“Being on benefits for a long time you get into a system of looking for jobs but you think ‘can I really do this, can I really do that?’ and you narrow your own workload.

“When you’re unemployed your whole mind and body gets really low and most of the time you wake up thinking ‘what’s the point’.

“I think it is a good idea to a certain degree, but it could pressure people into jobs which they are not suited for and that can be worse for a lot of people.”

The allowance will be removed for three months on a first offence, six months the second time and three years on the third breach of the new rules.

JobCentre advisers currently have the power to remove JSA for up to 26 weeks from people who fail to take up offers of employment, but the sanction is very rarely applied.

Those losing income from JSA will be able to apply for a hardship allowance, worth 60 to 70 per cent of the benefit, but this is not expected to be available in many cases.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We’re doing more than any other government to help people get back to work. That’s our part of the deal. Now those on benefit need to do their bit.

“If people are asked to do community work, they’ll be expected to turn up.

“If people are asked to apply for a job by an employment adviser, they’ll be expected to put themselves forward. If people can work and they are offered work, they’ll be expected to take it.

“This is the deal. Break the deal and they’ll lose their unemployment benefit. Break it three times and they’ll lose it for three years.”