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Little evidence welfare sanctions work say auditors
imposed on them despite no real evidence these punitive measures work, Whitehall’s official spending watchdog has found. The National Audit Office said the use of
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sanctions varies substantially with little consistency across Jobcentres. They also said the Department for Work and Pensions is also failing to monitor thousands of people whose benefits are being cut or withheld while many are being pushed outside the benefits system. A new report from the NAO concludes there
has been a failure to measure whether the Government is saving money through the sanctions system, which can typically see claimants lose £300 over four weeks. Almost a quarter of claimants (24 per cent) between 2010 and 2015 received a sanction. The report was compiled before the latest
reduction in the benefit cap to £20,000 a year. More than 1 million unemployed benefits claimants have to meet certain conditions, such as showing they are looking for work, to receive jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance, universal credit and income support. Labour MP Meg Hillier, chair of the Public
housands of benefit claimants are suffering hardship, hunger and depression after sanctions have been
“NAO said the use of sanctions varies substantially with little consistency across Jobcentres”
Accounts Committee, commented: “Benefit sanctions punish some of the poorest people in the country. But despite the anxiety and misery they cause, it seems to be pot luck who gets sanctioned.” In 2015, 800,000 claimants were referred to
the DWP for possible sanctions, the report said. Of those, half were then sanctioned across at least one of four benefits.
Hardship
The auditors concluded that the DWP does not track the costs and benefits of sanctions, but only estimates the costs and benefits. The NAO estimated the DWP withheld £132m from claimants through sanctions in 2015, and paid them £35m in hardship payments. But the costs of administering the system
was up to £50m in 2015 while the impact on wider public spending through additional support or savings had not been calculated at all by the DWP, the auditors said.
Ministers argue that international studies
have shown that sanctions work. But the NAO concluded there was no evidence that they were value for money for British taxpayers. Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child
Poverty Action Group, said: “As the NAO report makes clear, the DWP has little idea what impact sanctions have on individuals and, with
some areas imposing twice as many sanctions as others, appears to have little concern for consistency. Sanctions create destitution but the DWP is operating almost blind.” The Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggested
the Government should use the opportunity to soften the sanctions regime to ensure that sanctions were less severe and no longer forced claimants into destitution.
“The DWP has little idea what impact sanctions have on individuals and…appears to have little concern for consistency”
– Alison Garnham of Child Poverty Action Group
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