Benefit Sanctions National day of action - Thursday 19 March 2015

Unite National day of Action - Thursday 19 March 2015

Please join an event near you on Thursday 19 March to stop benefit sanctions in your community.   

We will continue to add new actions on a regular basis, so please check back.

For further information please email your Unite community coordinator

Northern Ireland - Albert Hewitt

Scotland - Jamie Caldwell 

North West - Sheila Coleman

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Growing Evidence DWP Staff Forced To Impose Benefit Sanctions

There is growing evidence that Jobcentre staff are being pressurised into imposing sanctions against benefit claimants, an SNP MSP has said.

Figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) under a Freedom of Information Request, reveal that the number of jobseekers facing benefit sanctions increased from 10% in 2010 to 18% in 2013/14.

Last week, the SNP called for an investigation of evidence suggesting DWP staff are pressurised into sanctioning people.

This followed under-Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell’s appearance at the Welfare Reform Committee in which he failed to address the issue.

Following the meeting, all four SNP members of the committee wrote to Esther McVey, the UK Minister of state for Employment, calling on her to command the Department for Work and Pensions to commission an independent investigation into evidence suggesting DWP staff are pressurised into sanctioning.

A recent PCS survey reveals how 82% of staff questioned felt that they were under pressure to refer people who could be sanctioned.

Inclusion Scotland’s Director of Policy Bill Scott has also told of DWP staff who have been warned that they will be disciplined because they have not imposed enough sanctions...

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Ministers change story yet again on benefit-related deaths

Ministers have admitted releasing yet more inaccurate information about their secret inquiries into the deaths of benefit claimants.

Last year, the Department for Work and Pensions stated, in a Freedom of Information Act (FoI) response, that it did not hold any records on deaths linked to, or partially caused by, the withdrawal or non-payment of disability benefits.

Mark Harper, the Conservative minister for disabled people, later told Disability News Service (DNS) that he did not “accept the premise” that DWP should collect and analyse reports of such deaths.

But the Liberal Democrat DWP minister Steve Webb appeared to contradict Harper when he said the following week that when the department becomes aware of worrying cases “they do get looked at”.

A DWP spokesman finally told DNS last October that it does carry out reviews into individual cases, where it is “appropriate”.

It then admitted, in another FoI response, that it had in fact carried out 60 secret reviews into benefit-related deaths since February 2012.

But in a response last week to a question from the veteran Labour MP Michael Meacher, Esther McVey, the Conservative employment minister, said the department had in fact carried out 49 “peer reviews relating to the death of a claimant”.

She refused to say how many of these reviews involved the sanctioning of claimants, and in how many cases DWP’s actions were found to be “inappropriate or incorrect”...

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Rachel Reeves could single-handedly lose the election for Labour

Rachel Reeves: This photo is a rare occasion in which she doesn’t have her foot in her mouth.

I’ll say it if nobody else will – Rachel Reeves is so stupid she could lose Labour the election.

Work and Pensions is a gaping policy open-goal for the Tories but Ms Reeves can’t see this and wants the world to know she’ll out-cut them on the Benefit Cap.

“Labour supports a cap on benefits. We will ask an independent commission to look at whether the cap should be lower in some areas,” are her actual words.

What stupidity. One can only imagine she is basing these comments on the fact that wages are lower in some areas than others. But prices are just as high!

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Benefit Sanctions Will Cause A Deterioration In Health And That’s OK Says DWP Rule Book

Originally posted on the void:

Physical punishment is now built into the benefit system with sanctions both known and intended to cause a deterioration in health says the DWP rule book..

The shocking fact was revealed by Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group who was giving evidence to Work and Pensions Committee’s sanction enquiry this morning.  Graham ended her evidence by pointing out a chilling extract from the DWP Decision Maker’s guidelines referring to whether a claimant who has had their benefit stopped should be entitled to a meagre Hardship Payment for the first two weeks of their sanction.

According to the rules, it would be “usual for a normal healthy adult to suffer some deterioration in their health” if they are left with no money to buy food or pay for essential items for two weeks.  A Hardship Payment can therefore only be awarded for this period if Jobcentre staff…

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How benefit sanctions punish people with mental health problems the hardest

Some of the most vulnerable people on benefits are being sanctioned at alarming rates - even when they're in hospital.

Going through the sanctions process is even more stressful for people with mental health issues (posed by models)

It's hard enough dealing with a mental health issue - but it's made much worse if you're not able to work.

David (not his real name) suffers from schizophrenia and receives two types of income support to help him live while he deals with his illness. He was sanctioned twice in 2013 for not attending work focussed interviews and appointments due to his deteriorating health.

He was even sanctioned while he was very ill in hospital, and forced to rely on his family for food.

Caught in a bureaucratic nightmare without any guidance, David was too ill to speak to advisors.

His family explained his situation but received little compassion. They didn't know who to turn to.

The sanctions on his Disability Living Allowance and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) were only lifted once Citizens Advice Bureau got in touch and intervened on his behalf.

It's now all too common to hear tales of frustrated vulnerable people unable to access the financial help they need and are entitled to. Too many of them are sanctioned for not fulfilling basic tasks which they just can't do because of their disability.

People with mental health problems are FAR more likely to be sanctioned than someone with a physical injury

If you have depression, you're much more likely to lose your benefits than if you've got a physical condition like a broken leg or bronchitis.

This is what new data released by a consortium of church groups and charities shows.

They looked at the number of sanctions given to ESA claimants with different conditions. Claimants with mental health or behavioural problems have been penalised the heaviest by the new sanctions.



The most common reason for being sanctioned is being late or not turning up for a Work Programme appointment, according to the data released by the Methodist Church, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales and mental health charity Mind.

Yet some of these people have issues like crippling anxiety that prevent them from leaving the house, never mind getting to appointments on time. 

Paul Morrison, Public Issues Policy Adviser for the Methodist Church, said: "Sanctioning someone with a mental health problem for being late for a meeting is like sanctioning someone with a broken leg for limping.

"The fact that this system punishes people for the symptoms of their illness is a clear and worrying sign that it is fundamentally flawed."

The reality of being sanctioned, behind the figures:

• One single male said that he was sanctioned for SIX WEEKS for not attending a meeting that would take him off ESA and onto JSA. He didn't attend the meeting as he didn't know about it - he never answered unknown numbers for fear of harassment from debt collectors.
  He said: "I was given no direction over where to go for help.  I felt so angry, insecure, negative, depressed and beaten. I felt like finding solace in drugs and drink.”
• Another ESA claimant suffering from severe anxiety and IBS cannot always leave their home. They were asked to attend training sessions despite giving doctors' letters to support their claim, and were threatened with sanctions for non-attendance. Frightened they would be left destitute, they attended the training and while there, had an anxiety attack. They had to make their way home while very unwell and frightened: an situation that could have been easily-avoided.
• In one particularly tragic story from 2013 one single mother was sanctioned for not attending a meeting. She wasn't able to find help and the stress became too much for her. She was found hanged in her home two days before Christmas.

62% of people sanctioned have mental health problems

People on ESA with mental health problems are over-represented when it comes to being sanctioned.
Since 2010, the gap between the percentage of claimants with mental health problems and the percentage of sanctions for those who have mental health problems has widened.



Paul Farmer, CEO of mental health charity Mind, said: “We’re very concerned about the number of people having their benefits stopped. It’s unjustifiable that people with mental health problems are being sanctioned disproportionately compared to those who have another health problem.

"Stopping benefits does not help people with mental health problems back into work. In fact, it often results in people becoming more anxious and unwell and this makes a return to work less likely."

Mirror Online