{"id":11574,"date":"2017-02-24T15:24:27","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T15:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11574"},"modified":"2017-02-24T15:24:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T15:24:27","slug":"sanctioned-sleeping-rough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11574","title":{"rendered":"Sanctioned to sleeping rough"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s despised benefit sanctions regime has pushed people into sleeping rough, a scathing report by MPs has concluded.<\/p>\n

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The cruel measures that punish claimants for missing or being late to just one job centre appointment are inconsistent and have become a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpostcode lottery\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, the public accounts committee said.<\/p>\n

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The committee urged officials to review the regime after expressing concern that sanctions<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhave increased in severity in recent years and can have serious consequences.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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The report<\/a> comes before a national day of action on March 30<\/a> by Unite Community against the benefit sanctions regime.<\/p>\n

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Public accounts committee chair, Meg Hiller, described the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of sanctions as a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bblunt instrument\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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The Labour MP said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSanctions and exemptions are being applied inconsistently, with little understanding of why.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSuspending people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefit payments can lead them into debt, rent arrears and homelessness, which can undermine their efforts to find work.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA third of people surveyed by the charity Crisis who were claiming Housing Benefit had this stopped in error because of a sanction \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an appalling situation to be faced with.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Sanctions can be imposed for a number of \u00e2\u20ac\u015boffences\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, including not looking for work, turning down positions and missing appointments.<\/p>\n

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Typically they last for four weeks and punish benefit<\/a> claimants by withholding Jobseekers Allowance, meaning a loss of around \u00c2\u0141300.<\/p>\n

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During 2015, around 400,000 sanctions were imposed by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Unacceptable\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is an unacceptable amount of unexplained variation in the department\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of sanctions, so claimants are being treated differently depending on where they live,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the report states.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe department has poor data and therefore cannot be confident about what approaches work best, and why, and what is not working.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt does not know whether vulnerable people are protected as they are meant to be.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MPs warned that sanctions can be used to punish \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhonest mistakes\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and suggested that the DWP give warnings to people instead of punishing them for their first sanctions \u00e2\u20ac\u015boffence\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe department told us there will always be variation. This does not mean that current levels of unexplained variation are acceptable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the report states.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is important that the use of sanctions is fair and consistent and the department has not analysed why some job centres use sanctions so much more than others… Job centres may be applying different standards.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The committee have given the DWP 10 months to provide information on how vulnerable people are protected.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The damning report follows a similar indictment<\/a> by the National Audit Office (NAO) in November. The NAO said there were substantial sanctions variations across the country, with some Work Programme providers issuing twice as many referrals as others in the same area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople who are sanctioned are treated worse than criminals. At least criminals are innocent until they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re proven guilty \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for those who are sanctioned it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the other way round,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Head of Unite Community, Liane Groves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCriminals are kept warm and fed after they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re convicted, while benefit claimants are left in a crisis where putting food on the table for themselves and their families and heating their homes can be made all but impossible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bContrary to what the government says, there is no evidence that sanctions work. If someone has their confidence destroyed and is reduced to survival mode, it is obvious that they are not going to be in a fit position to successfully apply for work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is shameful that people who are down on their luck are treated this way. Unite is demanding that this regime ends and that people who are trying to find jobs are given adequate support.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To find out more about Unite Community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national day of action against benefit sanctions, or to get involved, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s despised benefit sanctions regime has pushed people into sleeping rough, a scathing report by MPs has concluded.   The cruel measures that punish claimants for missing or being late to just one job centre appointment are inconsistent and have become a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpostcode lottery\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, the public accounts committee said.   The committee urged officials […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[76,491,232],"wps_subtitle":"MPs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 report: people pushed onto street","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11575,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574\/revisions\/11575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}