Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2014, Official Report, column 986W, on social security benefits, what the total amount of benefit withheld as a result of sanctions was in each of the last two years.

Esther McVey

The Department does not estimate the amount of benefit withheld as a result of benefit sanctions. The sanctions regime is designed to ensure claimants comply with their requirements in order to move off benefits and into work.

The Answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, column 986W, on social security benefits, contained a calculation of the amount of jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) that claimants would have received if they had continued to be on benefit for the length of a fixed sanction. This is not the same as the amount withheld as a result of sanctions.

As the previous answer made clear, it is not possible to robustly estimate the actual amounts withheld as we do not know what would have happened in the absence of sanctions. For example, of claimants who leave benefit during a sanction – some may have left irrespective of the sanction being applied, and some may have left because of the sanction. Furthermore, the previous calculation did not include sanctions for Employment Support Allowance sanctions, Income Support for Lone Parents sanctions or JSA varied length sanctions and disentitlements as reliable data on the length of sanction or disentitlement is not readily available. Finally, the calculation did not net the figures for hardship payments.