Shortly after being appointed, Duncan Smith said the government would encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65 and bringing forward the planned rises in the state pension age. He announced reforms to simplify benefits and tax credits into a single Universal Credit payment, arguing welfare reform would make low earners better off in employment. He promised targeted work activity, sanctions and possible removal of benefits for up to three years for those who refused to work. Benefits claimants with part-time incomes below a certain threshold would become required to search for additional work or risk losing access to their benefits. He said benefits were not a route out of child poverty but hundreds of thousands of children could be lifted out of child poverty if one of their parents were to work at least a 35-hour week at the national minimum wage.