​Entire sanctions system needs overhaul - and they must be stopped in the meantime, says MP

All benefits sanctions should be stopped until there is a radical reform of the system.

That’s the bold call made by a Scottish MP in a letter to work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

Eilidh Whiteford, an SNP MP, made the move after it was alleged Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) staff are being pressurised to hit targets for the number of people who have their benefits suspended.

It was also revealed this week that a postcode lottery exists in levels of punishment doled out to claimants.

Whiteford, who formerly worked with Oxfam and who has a background in the Scottish third sector, said: “All sanctions need to be halted immediately until a fundamental root and branch independent review of the DWP’s sanctions and conditionality can be carried out.

All sanctions need to be halted until a fundamental root and branch review can be carried out.

Eilidh Whiteford MP

“There is clearly a culture of pressure within the DWP which forces staff to refer people for sanctions for fear of retribution against themselves.

“Staff should instead be encouraged to make well-thought through decisions in the first place which would allow more people to move through the system and there would be less people desperately waiting to find out if they will have enough to make ends meet.”

The MP highlighted that DWP figures show half of all sanctions for Jobseekers’ Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance were later overturned at appeal.

Every week brings more stories of the hardships and arbitary injusticies brought about by the UK government’s punitive sanctions regime.

Last week it was revealed that the DWP invented fake quotes from people in a leaflet promoting the “positive” side of sanctions.

The Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland backed Whiteford's calls for a root and branch review of the system.

Director John Dickie said: “There is no question that the sanctions system is not working. Families are being left to struggle for food and the basics because of unrealistic job-seeking conditions they never had a chance of meeting, inflexible rules that stop good reason or good cause from being considered, and poor DWP communications which leave sanctioned parents unaware that hardship payments could prevent their children experiencing severe hardship.

"We need to see an immediate end to fixed-term sanctions and an urgent independent review into the use of sanctions generally.”

A DWP spokesman said: “The vast majority of those on benefits do the right thing by looking for work, and the number of sanctions are going down. Taxpayers would expect the small minority who refuse to do so would risk a reduction in benefits. Everyone has the right to appeal a sanction decision.”