David Crausby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Birkenhead, of 18 November 2013, Official Report, column 674W, on jobseeker’s allowance, what assessment he has made of the (a) monitoring system which checks that sanctions by Jobcentre Plus staff are applied appropriately and (b) outcome of independent reviews undertaken into sites making exceptional numbers of referrals of clients to decision makers.

Esther McVey

It is for local and district management to ensure Jobcentre Plus staff apply labour market conditionality fairly and consistently, taking into account individual claimant circumstances; and to make sure referrals to decision makers are appropriate and of consistently good quality.

Independent reviews undertaken last year suggested that referral rates were appropriate. Findings from those reviews are fed back into operations to help inform ongoing monitoring and delivery.