Lib Dems concerned about Sanctions and Delay in Publishing Review

The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Cllr Howard Sykes MBE, has written on behalf of the Group to the Tory Secretary of State for Employment, Tory MP, Ian Duncan Smith, with his concerns about the operation of the benefits sanction regime and delays in the publication of an independent review commissioned by the Minister.

The Government appointed Matthew Oakley, a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee, to undertake an independent review of the operation of the benefit sanctions regime as per the requirements of the Jobseekers (Back to Work Schemes) Act 2013.

Mr Oakley invited benefit claimants and campaign groups to submit evidence to a consultation which closed six months ago on 10th January 2014. There was an expectation that Mr Oakley would present his report to the Secretary of State after the 26 March 2014, and that this would be laid before Parliament and the public shortly thereafter.

In his letter, Cllr Sykes states: “The results will be of tremendous interest to both benefit claimants and to opinion formers, so why the delay?”

Sanctions were first introduced by the last Labour Government to promote greater compliance by jobseekers with the requirements to be “available for and actively seeking work” (so called conditionality), but the regime was revised following the introduction by the Secretary of State of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act.

Benefit claimants can now be sanctioned and lose their entitlement to unemployment benefits for periods of between 4 weeks and 3 years.

The cross-party Parliamentary Work and Pensions Select Committee stated in a recent report that whilst it recognised that “conditionality is a necessary part of the benefits system and that sanctioning, if used appropriately, can be a useful tool for encouraging engagement with employment support”, sanctions should only be used as a “last resort”.

Cllr Sykes agrees: “We need to establish a conditionality and sanctions regime that strikes the right balance between placing robust expectations on claimants to find work, giving them the chance to make the necessary behaviour changes to meet these expectations, and providing them with appropriate and timely information and support from Job Centre staff to do so.

And we should also of course always be mindful that the regime is fair to Britain’s taxpayers who ultimately fund it”.

Cllr Sykes also has real concerns about the operation of the sanctions regime:

“Claimants are still not always told what is expected of them to find work, and, where they fail to do so, can find a sanction applied before they are given the opportunity to effect the necessary behaviour changes to be compliant with the conditionality requirements.

Claimants are also not always told about their right to apply for a Hardship Payment or about the need to ensure they make a fresh claim to housing benefit and local Council Tax Support to avoid the accumulation of arrears (on the basis of Nil Income).
They are also not always fully informed about their rights to seek a review of the decision or of their right to appeal the decision”.

In a final appeal for natural justice to the Tory Minister, Cllr Sykes states:

“This means claimants lose out, both financial and in knowledge. This can then lead to a downward spiral where the claimants has to resort to ‘loan sharks’ and food banks to survive, whilst remaining at risk of further sanctions because they remain non-compliant with the conditionality requirements.

This surely cannot be right.

Sanctions should be a “last resort” with the errant claimant being offered the information, opportunity and support to make the necessary behaviour changes first (a warning if you will) before they lose their income”.

Cllr Sykes ends with his hopes that the report will soon be published and that the Minister will address the concerns of the Oldham Liberal Democrat Group.

He said:

“The application of sanctions in Oldham has led to several headline horror stories in our local press.

“I am sure that the report will be very informative. I look forward with my colleagues to subjecting it to a rigorous examination after which we shall not hesitate to make our views known to Ministers if we continue to be unhappy with it.

“The Oldham Liberal Democrats have been forthright in our support for the poorest and most disadvantaged residents of our borough. As a party we believe in a fairer society.

“Our actions speak as loudly as our words.

“Last year, we proposed a 12-point plan to support disabled people affected by welfare reform and we called for improvements to the local Council Tax Support Scheme and for further support for social tenants impacted by housing benefit changes to housing benefits (the so-called Bedroom Tax).

“Very recently I wrote to the Secretary of the Select Committee on Work and Pensions opposing the plan of the Tory Secretary of State to deny claimants their benefits for the first seven days of their claim and this week we will be discussing a Lib Dem motion condemning Tory Ministers in Government for proposing to abolish Local Welfare Provision.”