Duncan Smith: 'Unemployment not just about jobs'

Sweeping changes to welfare rules will mean unemployed people will lose their benefits for up to three years if they repeatedly turn down job opportunities.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will announce the measures while giving details of a new universal credit - designed to make sure that work pays better than benefits.

In a speech in London earlier, he argued many people remained out of work even during the boom years because of an antiquated and confused benefits system that encouraged worklessness.