Following a Freedom of Information request, the latest figures available have been published by the DWP showing the numbers of JSA claimants sanctioned across England, Wales and Scotland for the year up to October 2012.{jcomments on}
Month of Decision Total
November 2011 48,580
December 2011 40,240
January 2012 51,060
February 2012 55,380
March 2012 62,360
April 2012 57,750
May 2012 68,580
June 2012 61,500
July 2012 68,070
August 2012 60,510
September 2012 65,150
Up to 21st October 2012 55,350
Unfortunately, and despite this being a total of 694,530 sanctions in one year, these figures do not relate to the numbers of decisions under the tougher sanctioning regime that was brought in from 22nd October 2012.
If each of the sanctions were for one week and for the weekly rate of JSA for someone over 25, this would lead to a “saving” of £49,311,630.
Of course, some of these sanctions may be for periods of up to 26 weeks and some of them might have been applied to the same person - these are numbers of decisions rather than numbers of claimants. So the savings could easily be (and probably are) a great deal higher than this.
Given the extended powers to impose sanctions since last October, it is quite likely that the Government will save substantially more than this year on year. Now it becomes clearer why the DWP were planning a week-long celebration of sanctions!
