Impact of sanctions


Labour MP Meg Hillier, chair of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, accused the government of using benefit sanctions as a “blunt instrument”. The committee’s inquiry into benefit sanctions found that they have become increasingly severe over recent years, with serious consequences including debt, rent arrears and homelessness.


It also reported that sanctions are not rare. Some 400,000 benefits sanctions were imposed on claimants in 2015, the last complete year for which data are available. Some claimants may receive more than one sanction. Around a quarter (24%) of people who claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) at any point between 2010 and 2015 had at least one sanction imposed on them. While they can last for up to three years, the committee reports that a typical sanction lasts four weeks and means a JSA claimant loses around £300.


The committee urged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to review their use. It said that although sanctions may encourage some people into work, the department has poor data with which to evaluate what works and is unable to estimate their wider impact, including their overall cost or benefit to the public purse. 


It also highlighted inconsistencies between different job centres and providers, with some Work Programme (see below) providers referring twice as many people for sanctions as other providers in the same area. In addition, it said that the DWP does not know whether vulnerable claimants who can be excused from having to meet benefit conditions are receiving the protection to which they are entitled. 


The committee also called for the DWP to undertake a trial of warnings, rather than sanctions, for first sanctionable offences.


Liane Groves, head of the Community section at the Unite general union, told LRD that around a million people have “disappeared” from the benefits system without finding work and, as a result, are now relying on foodbanks, charities and friends and family to survive, while many are homeless. Unite held its third national day of action against benefit sanctions on 30 March 2017.