A Government study quietly published last month found there is no evidence that benefit sanctions work. Sanctions, which can result in the stopping of benefit payments for claimants who do not comply with rules laid out by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), have been proven to be ineffective in a three-year study carried out by the Government.
The DWP published the findings in the paper Universal Credit: in-work progression randomised controlled trial on the Government’s website on 12 September, as MPs prepared for party conference season. There was no ministerial announcement about the results.
In the study, which was carried out over three years, the paper found no evidence that sanctions for failing to apply for additional work, or undertake additional training helped motivate participants to progress in work, reported Sky News.
Rather than having beneficial effects, the sanctions damaged the relationship between the work coach and the claimant, said the report.
The reason why it was buried is because it didn’t have good news, he told Sky News.
If it had actually said sanctions terrified workers into massive increases in pay and the length of the working week, and god knows what, this would have been sung from the rooftops.
Instead it showed that a very key part of what increasing numbers of members of parliament and the public feel is a bullying aspect of Universal Credit is not working. That is why it was buried, he added.
In March, i reported that Luke O’Donnell, who has epilepsy, was penalised after missing a work-related appointment for Job Seeker’s Allowance because he could not prove his seizures had prevented him from attending.
At the time, the 24-year-old said the system was cold-hearted.
The story was widely shared and less than two weeks later, the Universal Credit department at the DWP informed him his sanctions would be reversed, saying not enough consideration was placed on Mr O’Donnell’s health following three days of epileptic episodes.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said: The in work progression trials helped encourage claimants to increase their hours, seek out progression opportunities and take part in job-related training.
The trials delivered positive results for many of the lowest paid people who claim Universal Credit and we are now considering the findings.