The Leader of the Opposition and of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, Cllr Howard Sykes MBE, has called for further action on sanctions.
The Liberal Democrats proposed an amendment to a Labour motion on sanctions at April’s Oldham Council meeting. This proposed a series of practical actions to reduce the number and impact of sanctions on Oldham residents receiving benefits.
Commenting Cllr Sykes said: “The Liberal Democrats are a practical party and wherever possible we seek to propose practical solutions to the problems facing the people of our Borough. In our amendment at the April Council we set out some ideas that would have mitigated the impact of sanctions in Oldham and established best practice for our area. However in the vote Labour chose not to support our commonsense proposals and the amendment was defeated.”
Despite this setback, Cllr Sykes has chosen to take independent action in writing to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith MP, and to senior job centre managers.
Cllr Sykes explained: “I have asked the Secretary of State to establish an independent enquiry into the use of sanctions. Members of the Work and Pensions Select Committee have been calling for this for sometime and I am happy to endorse this.”
“The Committee also called for pilot projects to be established within the UK to trial the idea of using a Vulnerability Guide to support vulnerable claimants and to issue ‘yellow cards’, or non-financial penalties, rather than impose a sanction when a jobseeker first fails to meet the conditions for claiming benefit.”
“I have previously asked the Secretary of State to institute a ‘yellow card’ system, and I was pleased to see the Liberal Democrats adopt this as policy at their last party conference. Oldham has a particularly high level of sanctions so I have asked if the Borough can be the location for one of these pilots.”
“The Liberal Democrats are also particularly concerned about the impact of sanctions on disabled and vulnerable claimants, and I have also asked the Secretary of State to ensure that Oldham is the location for piloting the new guide. I know that there are many local partners who would be keen to work with officials from Job Centre Plus to establish an effective model to support disabled and vulnerable people in Oldham.”
“I cannot understand why the Labour Group did not support these proposals when we raised them at the April Council meeting. They represent the position of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which includes local Labour MP Debbie Abrahams.”
Cllr Sykes has also written to senior managers at the local Job Centre.
He added: “The Oldham Liberal Democrats are keen to work with local officials at the Job Centre to establish best practice in the application of sanctions in Oldham. We want to see the use of sanctions markedly decline. They should be a last, rather than a first, resort. Instead we need to work together to ensure that claimants know, and do, what they need to do as jobseekers to meet ‘conditionality’ and so continue to receive benefits.”
Cllr Sykes is particularly keen to see the introduction of specialist training for paid advisors and volunteers who are working with jobseekers at risk of being sanctioned.
He said: “I believe that Job Centre Plus has developed a local bespoke course that would meet this requirement and I am keen to work with Job Centre staff to help provide the necessary Council facilities and promotion to ensure that this provision is well supported. Knowledge is power, and if advisors and volunteers working with jobseekers understand more about what is expected from them to avoid the imposition of a sanction then they will be better placed to support their clients.”
“I will also support improvements in communication between Job Centre Advisors / Coaches and their clients. Claimants complain that they do not know what is expected of them in seeking work, that they are sometimes unaware that a sanction has been applied, and do not know how to appeal.”
“I feel that it is beholden on Job Centre staff as public servants to make every effort to contact claimants before a sanction is applied so the claimant has the opportunity to change their job-seeking behaviour and that they should also be informed of their right to appeal and to make a claim for a hardship payment”.
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