DWP Führer Iain Duncan Smith
The work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has responded to allegations that jobcentres are operating sanctions targets to drive claimants off the dole queue by saying: “There are no targets, there will be no targets and anybody caught imposing a target will themselves be dealt with.”
He told MPs: “There are no targets for any sanctions whatsoever,” and said the head of Jobcentre Plus would send a reminder to staff emphasising that.
He claimed the government was breaking the target culture created by Labour. He also praised the Walthamstow jobcentre – which is at the centre of the allegations – for its success in getting record numbers back to work. A leaked email from a jobcentre official referred to a “league table” of benefit sanctions in which Walthamstow was 95th out of 109.
Iain Duncan Smith added that the order not to employ targets had gone out to jobcentre staff on innumerable occasions.
Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told MPs in a debate on the budget: “The email is an incredibly serious matter. The email states Walthamstow is 95th in the league table out of 109.” He pointed out that the employment minister Mark Hoban had assured the Commons earlier in the week under repeated questioning that this was not happening.
He said the discrepancy between the ministerial assurances and the reality on the ground required him to seek fresh commitments from the government that the independent review into the sanctions regime would get to the bottom of every sanction issued.
Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, said she was very disappointed by the response of the work and pensions secretary, adding that the email clearly showed jobcentres were running league tables on imposing sanctions on claimants. She said of Duncan Smith: “Who does he think he is, putting together these league tables, and applying this pressure down to our own jobcentre to put the staff under the pressure to find reasons to sanction people in our community not because of their behaviour, but simply to meet a target. Who does he think is doing this?”
This article titled “Iain Duncan Smith denies jobcentres have targets for sanctioning benefits” was written by Patrick Wintour, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 22nd March 2013 11.30 Europe/London
