{"id":2827,"date":"2015-01-23T16:30:20","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T16:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2015-01-26T10:23:42","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T10:23:42","slug":"sanctioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2827","title":{"rendered":"Sanctioned"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ask anyone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been on unemployment benefit, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell you that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d much rather be in work.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe sensationalist media may paint an image of the supposedly feckless benefits scrounger, leading a cushy life on constant holiday, all on the taxpayer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dime. But you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly splurge when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting a pittance \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u014172 per week, a much lower entitlement than in most European countries.<\/p>\n

 
\nAnd even this meagre sum \u00e2\u20ac\u201c barely enough to put food on the table, let alone do anything else \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is under constant threat under the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s draconian sanctions regime, which sees jobless people losing their only lifeline for absurd and often non-existent reasons.<\/p>\n

 
\nIndeed, the daily hoops that you have to jump through while in constant fear of being sanctioned makes claiming Jobseekers Allowance one of the most difficult \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and lowest paid \u00e2\u20ac\u201c jobs out there.<\/p>\n

 
\nOn Wednesday (January 23), charities, campaign groups and PCS, the union representing Job Centre staff, gave evidence on benefits sanctions<\/a> at a special work and pensions select committee.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe evidence against the sanctions regime, under the auspices of work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, is damning.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEvery engagement an opportunity to sanction\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nSince the current government took the helm in 2010, benefits sanctions have gone through the roof by 2000 per cent, according to PCS research.<\/p>\n

 
\nOver the weeks leading up to Christmas, the union found that in that month alone, \u00c2\u014120m was being withheld from more than 70,000 people on unemployment benefit.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhat can explain this shocking proliferation in the number of people being cut off from their benefits entitlements?<\/p>\n

 
\nThe department of work and pensions claims that sanctions are necessary to keep jobless people from abusing the system, but talk to Job Centre staff, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell you a completely different story.<\/p>\n

 
\nA former Job Centre official, John Longden<\/a>, said he was under constant pressure by management to sanction jobseekers for even the smallest infraction.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSanctions of customers were encouraged by managers daily, with staff being told to look at every engagement with the customer as an opportunity to take sanction action,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI was personally told by a manager to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098agitate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098inconvenience\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 customers in order to get them to leave the register.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\nHead of Unite Community, Liane Groves, says that the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmassive increase in sanctions\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 since the coalition government came to power is nothing more than political point-scoring.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe sanctions regime as it stands now makes absolutely no sense,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bCommon sense tells you that if you cut off people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to feed themselves and heat their homes, you create an environment that is not conducive at all to finding a job. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perform well at a job interview if you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eaten in days.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to help people get back into work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey only want to improve unemployment figures to show that their tactics are working, that more and more people are finding work. Instead, you have sanctioned people disappearing from the system entirely and resorting to food banks to survive.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nPlaying by the rules<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nThe department of work and pensions recently claimed that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsanctions are a necessary part of the benefits system but they are used as a last resort in a tiny minority of cases where people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play by the rules.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThese so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u015brules\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 are a labyrinthine tangle of do\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ts designed expressly to trip claimants up, which documented sanctions stories have shown.<\/p>\n

 
\nBirmingham against Cuts has published a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bselection of especially stupid sanctions,<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 which tells of one claimant being sanctioned for not looking for work on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

 
\nAnother claimant was sanctioned for running nine minutes late to a job centre appointment, even though the reason she was late was because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been at a job interview that had run a bit too long.<\/p>\n

 
\nYet another claimant says the job centre gave her the wrong forms, after which she was sanctioned for filling out these wrong forms.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe list goes on.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDisappeared from view\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nWhat Groves called a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcompletely cruel\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 sanctions system — one that often targets the most vulnerable, including the mentally ill — has also been found to be ineffective as well.<\/p>\n

 
\nAccording to recent research<\/a> conducted by academics at the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, only a fifth of people whose benefits are taken away find work after being sanctioned.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf, as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finding, people are out of work but without support \u00e2\u20ac\u201c disappeared from view \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real danger that other services will absorb the costs, like the NHS, possibly jails and food support systems, to name a few,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the researchers said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSanctions could be costing taxpayers more.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThe cost to sanctioned claimants themselves has also been exposed, a cost that some claimants have paid with their lives.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe know of at least 60 suicides connected with the loss of benefits following sanctions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Groves. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government itself has admitted to this scandal after an official investigation.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely shocking that in the sixth richest country in the world, the most vulnerable people, who should be receiving support, are instead being punished.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nFighting back<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nUnite has called for an immediate end to the sanctions regime, which has not only cost taxpayers money, but has ruined, and in some cases ended, countless lives as well.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite Community has actively fought the sanctions system in an ongoing campaign.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s section for unemployed workers has published a guide<\/a> to help those appeal sanctions decisions. Community often has stalls set up outside job centres across the country to provide the support network the most vulnerable need.<\/p>\n

 
\nWant to get involved in the fight against sanctions? Join Unite Community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s day of action on March 19<\/a>, when over 100 protests are set to take place across the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Ask anyone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been on unemployment benefit, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell you that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d much rather be in work.   The sensationalist media may paint an image of the supposedly feckless benefits scrounger, leading a cushy life on constant holiday, all on the taxpayer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dime. But you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly splurge when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting a pittance \u00e2\u20ac\u201c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"wps_subtitle":"The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absurd sanctions regime punishes those most in need of support ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827"}],"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=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2833,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions\/2833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}