Deadly sanctions

The coalition government’s benefits sanctions regime has ravaged the nation, punishing vulnerable people up and down the country for the simple “crime” of being the victims of a failing economy, an economy the government itself has created.

 
These sanctions – which see claimants lose their benefits entitlements for often absurd reasons, such as turning up one minute late to a jobcentre appointment or missing an appointment to attend the funeral of a family member – are not only deeply unfair, they can often be fatal.

 
Freedom of information requests have recently revealed that the Department of Work and Pensions is currently investigating welfare payment decisions of 60 claimants shortly after their deaths, which is the first time the DWP itself has recognised that benefits sanctions can kill.

 
Benefits sanctions cut the only remaining lifeline that many unemployed people have – forcing them into the hundreds of food banks that now serve a quarter of a million people in this country, up from only a few thousand people before 2010.

 
As Unite Community moved to kick off its campaign against benefits sanctions on Tuesday (February 3), a House of Commons debate the following day examined growing poverty in the UK.

 
Scenes from Kafka

 
During the debate, Labour MP Lisa Nandy of Wigan argued that the poverty blighting the nation since the coalition government came to power could be seen as a direct result of a failing benefits system.

 
Indeed, as Nandy pointed out, benefits sanctions were the primary reason that people reported having to turn to food banks for emergency food aid.

 
Nandy likened the benefits sanctions regime to scenes from a Kafka novel, where claimants are punished for non-existent crimes.

 
She told of a man who had been sanctioned after finding temporary work over Christmas. Even though he’d called in to tell the jobcentre the start and finish dates of this work, he was sanctioned because he didn’t attend the appointment to tell jobcentre staff information he’d already given them.

 
The day of his appointment, the jobcentre was closed. Afterwards, in the month of January, his sanctioned benefits came out to 1p for the entire month, and ÂŁ26 for the following month.

 
“How is someone in this country is meant to live on a penny a month?” Nandy asked.

 
These sorts of stories are no anomaly, as story after story emerges in which claimants are sanctioned for essentially no reason at all.

 
The absurdity of some of these sanctions – from not looking for work on Christmas Day to not being able to afford to travel to an interview, to even having a heart attack – are meted out in a high-pressure environment in which jobcentre staff are allegedly being given sanctions targets.

 
According to evidence submitted by the PCS union, jobcentre management has subjected staff to performance reviews if they fail to instigate or approve enough sanctions.

 
As a former jobcentre adviser noted in the Guardian earlier this week:

 
The pressure was incredible. Advisers were actively encouraged to impose sanctions (along the lines of “sanction of the month”) to contribute to the points system that ranks jobcentre offices. It was often for stupid reasons.”

 
“And it was happening all the time, she added. “A customer maybe would be a little bit late or would phone in and the message wasn’t passed on. It was very distressing to have customers literally without food, without heat, without resources and these are unwell [and] disabled customers.

 
Out of touch

 
As the House of Commons debate raged on, Nandy told dozens of stories in which sanctioned claimants were unfairly cut off from food, heating and all of life’s essentials.

 
Meanwhile, Tory MPs showed their true colours and just how out of touch they are with the realities of vulnerable people.

 
Addressing Nandy, who had just recounted how a learning disabled man who is unable to tell the time was sanctioned for being four minutes to a jobcentre appointment, Conservative MP Mark Spencer retorted:

 
“It is important that those who are seeking employment learn the discipline of timekeeping, which is an important part of securing and keeping a job.”

 
Noting that several Tory MPs had turned up a few minutes late to the debate but were still allowed to participate, Nandy denounced Spencer’s condescending remarks.

 
It got only worse – Spencer later made the claim, dismissing Nandy’s concern that nutritious food is often unaffordable, that “carrots and potatoes are actually the cheapest sources of food avoidable.”

 
But in Toryland, comments like these are the norm – recall life peer Baroness Anne Jenkins pronouncement that poor people go hungry because they “don’t know how to cook”. Or when then-education secretary Michael Gove claimed food bank users had only themselves to blame for “not being able to manage their finances.”

 
Sending a message

 
The farce that’s become this government’s benefits sanctions regime must be stopped, argues Unite.

 
In an effort to raise awareness, Unite Community’s campaign launched this week will culminate in a national day of action on March 19.

 
“We want to send a message to Esther McVey and Westminster that the government is failing to support vulnerable people in our society,” said head of Unite Community Liane Groves. “More needs to be done to support us all in time of need – not make personal situations worse.

 
“Thursday 19 March is a national day of action to highlight the ‘shocking’ impact of government benefit sanctions – we must join forces to stop this now before more people are forced into poverty,” she added.

 
To find out more about how you can participate in the campaign, including signing a petition, sharing your story, and attending a March 19 event near you, click here.