The government is intent on extending benefit sanctions by stealth
Recipients of welfare compensation are having their benefits stopped or reduced because of sanctions being doled out by Iain Duncan Smith’s Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
The extent to which a sanctions culture has been engrained in our social security system has yet to fully emerge.
That’s why I have been working with Baroness Jenny Jones to table a series of Parliamentary questions to expose the mainstreaming of sanctions, including the extension of sanctions to people in work.
The DWP claims that sanctions are only used as a last resort and in a small minority of cases. They have even put a number on it, claiming that 94 per cent of Jobseeker’s aren’t sanctioned.
But Iain Duncan Smith’s department has form when it comes to fiddling the figures. At the end of 2014, 900,000 people claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance but over 600,000 Jobseeker sanctions were issued. It is plainly obvious that Iain Duncan Smith’s department is being far from transparent.
The government is stubbornly refusing to publish an annual sanction rate. The data, they claim, would be prohibitively expensive.
This is nonsense, and the government must come clean. By taking the number of jobseekers at the beginning of a year, adding new claimants, and taking away those who find work, the true sanction rate is likely to be around 17-18 per cent. That’s around one in six jobseekers.
It is little wonder the government doesn’t want to do the maths – particularly given the growing awareness of the damage that sanctions do.
Sanctions kick people when they are down. They drive up the need for foodbanks. They target the most disadvantaged, hurting tens of thousands of children. They are unfair, punitive and in some cases lethal.
By the DWP’s own admission sanctions damage the claimant. But their rulebook merely states that someone with a health condition should not deteriorate under sanctions more than that of a healthy adult.
We know from international studies that benefit sanctions don’t help people find work. Iain Duncan Smith knew this before he began this push. But he also knew that he could proceed with next to no opposition as it was New Labour that first introduced them.
The government is intent on extending sanctions by stealth. Meanwhile, it continues to perpetuate the myth that they only apply to a few ‘undeserving’ cases.
This deception is part of the Tory attempts to rebrand poverty, rather than tackle it. The government continues to prevent the release of figures for the suicides of benefit claimants, and those who die shortly after being certified ‘fit for work’.
The Tory manifesto proposed sanctioning those who don’t accept prescribed medical treatments and therapies. This is now moving forward for drug users and the obese and mental health claimants are next in line.
Iain Duncan Smith has led the charge to criminalise poverty. But even convicted criminals serving time in prison are guaranteed food to eat.
He wrongly believes that people need to be bullied and harassed into work, all the while sitting as part of a government that has fostered an explosion of insecure, low paid jobs.
He’s even going so far as to mainstream the sanctions culture by extending it to people receiving in work tax credits. Last year, Iain Duncan Smith told the Work and Pensions Select Committee that trials were being carried out in the North-West on removing benefits from part-time workers who refuse to take on extra hours.
The mainstreaming of benefit sanctions and their extension to the working-poor is a grotesque interpretation of how social security should work. It treats those who need help as presumed guilty, not innocent. It is another example of the Tories ‘Hunger Games’ politics, seeking to divide the nation at every turn.
Jonathan Bartley is the Green Party’s work and pensions spokesperson. Follow him on Twitter
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
57 Responses to “IDS’s gradual criminalisation of poverty”
Deana Louise Lawson
Basically its “Genocide” , rebranded and a long time in the planning. Britain were denied a fair election in may , due to the tory supporters voting and there being no opposition party to vote for for the rest. It seems alot of policies seemed innocent enough but have had a devastating effect on people who no longer have a voice through welfare and disability charities, as they were muzzled long before. The next bill will be the NI being dropped in favour of a one tax rule to cover all, However NI covers JSA PIP DLA ESA amongst other benefits. So to my mind these are the new Universal Benefit, That didn’t last long.
I for one am finding the silence of the tory back benchers incredulous, Moreover until JC how Labour has allowed the tories to do whatever without as much as a whisper of “What?”…
Im sorry but widespread corruption springs to mind.
We are now truly the vulnerable, the dreggs they want to wash down the sewers…
I done think so though, Im still so proud to be British and i dont think the poor should carry on waiting and seeing what will happen, its happening NOW. Stand up and be counted.
Jacko
It always amuses me how often left wingers use the word ‘evil’ when discussing politics.
I’m going to let you in on a secret. People who don’t believe in socialism don’t wake up in the morning and say to themselves, “I’m just so evil. I don’t care about poor people. I’m going to grind widows and orphans beneath my hobnailed boots to increase my share prices a little. He-he-he.”
People who don’t share your views genuinely believe that socialism is not the way to help people. Honestly. We really believe that it holds people back, it creates systems of control and dependency and conformity and it stifles the human spirit. I’m not making that up. We really think that. And we believe just as passionately as you do that we’re right. But that doesn’t mean I think socialists are ‘evil’. I just think you’re wrong.
stevep
How patronising of you. By your logic, perhaps Ian Duncan Smith Is just a cuddly-wuddly teddy bear thinking he`s doing his best for the disadvantaged as he punches the air in triumph as George Osborne announces some of the worst welfare cuts in history, during the budget.
As for socialism creating systems of control and dependency, I think you`ve just outlined how right-wing governments treat large corporations. They`re dependent on taxpayers money to operate as they do and they`re certainly in control.
The welfare state and the post-war consensus was consciously created to give people dignity and decent employment. Most of that is going fast thanks to the support given by right-wingers like yourself.
If you think that socialism or indeed welfare, creates dependency and stifles the human spirit, you want to read the comments made by Julie Andrews on this page and then hang your head in shame. If you are capable of feeling shame.
Uncaring Capitalism creates poverty and despondency, not Socialism.
You`re the one who`s wrong.
Like I said at the end of my original comment:
Pure Evil.
Keith M
I work as an advisor with a charity and I have seen at first hand how these sanctions operate. They are designed to humiliate clients who are often too unwell to fight back. How IDS and the decision makers sleep at night is beyond me. These people are evil.
Keith M
Let’s hope you never need to claim benefits jacko.