By Rosie Niven | 15 August 2014
The number of sanctions placed on people receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) quadrupled between the first quarters of 2013 and 2014, government figures have revealed.
Department for Work and Pensions' statistics for decisions to apply a sanction for ESA showed that almost 16,000 sanctions were handed down between January and March this year, compared to 3,574 in the first quarter of 2013. Of the 7,507 claimants who received a sanction in March 2014, 95% were penalised for failure to participate in mandatory work-related activity, with the remainder sanctioned for failing to attend an interview.
The figures show that the number of people receiving sanctions for failing to participate in mandatory work-related activity in March 2014 was ten times bigger than in December 2012.
ESA was introduced in 2008 to replace incapacity benefit, which was paid to people unable to work due to sickness or disability.
Responding to the figures, Matt Downie, director of policy and external affairs at homelessness charity Crisis, said the figures reveal ‘a shocking escalation’ in the use of sanctions.
‘We are deeply concerned about the impact on people’s lives,’ he said.
‘Sanctions are cruel and can leave people utterly destitute – without money even for food and at severe risk of homelessness.’
Downie said the charity’s own research has shown that many homeless people face ‘unfair and inappropriate’ sanctions, often handed out due to errors on the part of the jobcentre or Work Programme provider. He called for an ‘urgent, wide-ranging review looking at the appropriateness and effectiveness of sanctions, especially for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness’.
