The DWP’s Updated Statistics on JSA Sanctions: What do they show?, Further supplementary evidence submitted to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry into the Role of Jobcentre Plus in the reformed welfare system, Second Report of Session 2013-14, HC 479, Vol. II, pp. Ev w111-w121

Abstract

The delayed JSA sanctions statistics for the period 22 October 2012 to 30 June 2013, published by DWP on 6 November 2013, have remarkable implications which ought to be known to the Committee before finalising its report. The number of sanctions in the year to 30 June 2013 was 860,000, the highest for any 12-month period since statistics began to be published in their present form. Sanctions for not actively seeking work and for non-participation in training and employment schemes have risen further, while those for missing an interview and for refusing a job have fallen, the latter very sharply indeed. The latter suggests a dwindling focus within DWP on finding people jobs. Up to 30 June 2013, the number of job outcomes achieved by the Work Programme has been greatly exceeded by the number of sanctions imposed for non-participation. Contrary to what was claimed by Lord Freud prior to their introduction, 3-year sanctions have built up very quickly, with the 700 to date understating the rate now reached. In the two years since June 2011 there has been a massive rise in the number of ‘reserved’ or ‘cancelled’ JSA sanction decisions, suggesting that people are being driven off JSA by the sanctions regime. This in turn could explain why there has been a sharp increase in the gap between the number of unemployed people identified by the official Annual Population Survey, and the number in the claimant count. This has very serious implications and the DWP should be asked to provide a full explanation for the rapid increase in reserved and cancelled decisions. The total of reconsiderations under the Coalition has increased by 15,000 per month to a new high of 20,000 per month, representing a substantial redirection of DWP resources away from other tasks. Claimants’ success rate at reconsideration has reverted to its long-term level of about 50 per cent. However, Tribunals, which are not under the control of the Secretary of State, have raised the proportion of appeals decided in claimants’ favour from a long-term level of 17.0 per cent, up to 42.2 per cent in November 2012 to June 2013. This remarkable increase is strong evidence that large numbers of claimants are being wrongly sanctioned even in terms of current legislation. The fact that only 1.7 per cent of claimants appeal to a Tribunal – the only independent element in the system – indicates the need for urgent reform. Finally, the format used by DWP for its new statistics is wholly inadequate and involves a serious loss of information and accountability