• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / Benefits and Poverty / No explanation from ministers for soaring ESA sanctions

No explanation from ministers for soaring ESA sanctions

By John Pring on 14th November 2014 Category: Benefits and Poverty, News Archive

Listen

newslatestMinisters have again refused to offer any explanation for the soaring use of sanctions against claimants of out-of-work disability benefits.

Figures published this week by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that the number of decisions to sanction claimants of employment and support allowance (ESA) reached 5, 132 in June 2014.

This compares with 4, 770 the previous month, 3,230 in January 2014, 2,698 in December 2013 and 1,091 in December 2012.

This means the use of sanctions – all applied to those in the work-related activity group (WRAG) of ESA – has risen by 370 per cent in just 18 months.

About nine in 10 sanctions were for a failure to participate in work-related activity, with the others imposed for a failure to attend a mandatory interview.

Claimants lose at least a week’s benefit for missing a single appointment or session of work-related activity.

A DWP spokesman said that sanctions were “nothing to do with saving money and the number of sanctions is entirely dependent on how many people do or do not fulfil all their obligations”.

He said: “Sanctions are only used as a last resort if people fail to take up the support which is on offer. There are no targets for sanctions.”

He said that about 99 per cent of ESA claimants do not receive a sanction, while the “vast majority” of ESA sanctions only last for a week.

And he said that those ESA claimants who are sanctioned still keep the additional WRAG component of £28.75, and can also apply for hardship payments.

But he has so far failed to explain why the number of ESA sanctions has risen so sharply in the last 18 months.

The DWP spokesman offered an explanation for why previous figures – released three months ago – showed there had been as many as 7,507 sanctions in March 2014, when this week’s updated figures show there were 4,266 that month.

He said the difference between the two figures was due to the high number of ESA claimants appealing against being sanctioned, or asking for a reconsideration, after the publication of the last figures.

He said: “The outcome of that appeal would be recorded in a different month on the next publication.

“It does not mean they won the appeal; the sanction would just be recorded in a different month.”

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming ESA and incapacity benefit (IB) has continued to rise.

New figures – also released this week – show that there were 2.470 million claimants of ESA and IB in May 2014, compared with 2.459 million in February and 2.456 million in November 2013.

Early estimates for the following four months show this number rising even further, reaching 2,515 million by September.

Many disabled campaigners believe this rise is at least partly due to the huge delays and backlogs in the system for assessing ESA claimants.

13 November 2014

Share this post:

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

Tags: Department for Work and Pensions DWP employment and support allowance ESA sanctions

Related

Access to Work in crisis as figures show ‘massive’ waiting-list
12th May 2022
Concern from MP as DWP refuses to release websites access report
12th May 2022
Regulator pressure forces DWP to admit: One million ESA claimants will lose out under UC
28th April 2022

Primary Sidebar

Image shows a man wearing glasses sitting by an open laptop The text reads: Free Career Support for Disabled People Our services include: 1-2-1 Coaching Online Career Resources Find Support near you Search for Inclusive Jobs Career Events and Workshops Visit the Evenbreak Career Hive today to find out how we can help you

Access

Latest Stories

Discrimination could be a cause of increased risk of Covid death, says ONS

Access to Work in crisis as figures show ‘massive’ waiting-list

Queen’s speech: Activists’ message to Patel over new protest bill: ‘We fight on’

Queen’s speech: Six bills that may change disabled people’s lives, for better and for worse

Queen’s speech: Campaigners raise concerns over ‘flawed’ Mental Health Act reforms

EHRC refuses to apologise over ‘shameful’ long Covid blunder

Concern from MP as DWP refuses to release websites access report

Government’s access advisers set to publish long-awaited documents, after ABC pressure

Treasury hides documents that show equality impact of Sunak’s spring statement

Rail platform safety risks set to continue for seven more years, despite inquest findings

Advice and Information

The Department for Work and Pensions: Deaths, cover-up, and a toxic 30-year legacy

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web