Sanction Audit

MP Debbie Abrahams & Prof David Stuckler

MP Debbie Abrahams has revealed that Oxford academics will report next month on what has happened to half a million jobseekers allowance (JSA) claimants who were sanctioned and subsequently disappeared from official employment statistics.

The Oxford University study led by Professor David Stuckler and Dr. Rachel Loopstra, is in the process of analysing what has happened to the 4.5 million people who have been sanctioned under the Coalition government's sanctioning regime. According to the Universal Declaration signed by the UK with the EU, Sanctions were meant to be 'No more than necessary'. 

The research suggests more than 500,000 Job Seekers Allowance claimants have ‘disappeared’ since the sanctions regime was toughened in October 2012.

This could mean the claimant count - one of the ways of measuring unemployment – is actually 20,000 to 30,000 lower per month than it should be. 

Stuckler and Loopstra, who have analysed data from 375 local authority areas have said they are ‘shocked’ by what they have found so far.

We are looking forward to these findings. We found that unpaid Workfare participants forced to work without wages were being counted as 'in-work'. When we asked the Office of National Statistics (ONS) about this they said they were contibuting to the economy.  Whether Mandatory Work experience without wages is really a 'job' is a point of debate. We look forward to hearing more from Professor David Stuckler and Dr. Rachel Loopstra in due course. 

Origional Article from turn2us.org  Benefits and Work newsletter