Aberystwyth and Cardigan Job Centres Issue 13,415 Sanctions

Claimants have had their benefits stopped by Job Centres in Ceredigion more than 13,000 times, research by the Cambrian News has found.

Since April 2000, Aberystwyth and Cardigan Job Centres have sanctioned 7,026 individual job seekers claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) — the main out-of-work benefit for the unemployed — a total of 13,415 times.

This is compared to 11,666 in Montgomeryshire, 10,462 in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, and 9,852 in Dwyfor Meirionnydd.

And since October 2008, Ceredigion’s Job Centres have sanctioned 186 individual claimants of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) — the benefit which replaced incapacity benefit in 2008 — a total of 405 times, including 296 times against people who self-identified as disabled.

Of these ESA sanction decisions, almost half (48 per cent) were made in 2014.

The number of ESA sanction decisions for Ceredigion (405) is compared to 171 in Montgomeryshire, 176 in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, and 174 in Dwyfor Meirionnydd.

When a benefit sanction is imposed, claimants have their benefit payments stopped, usually due to the claimant failing to comply with the requirements of the particular benefit.

There are three sanction levels, including lower, intermediate and higher, and benefit payments can be stopped for between four weeks and three years.

Image: Courtesy of the Cambrian News