Benefit sanctions inquiry – Inclusion London’s evidence
Based on the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people we believe that sanctions are destructive and they drive Deaf and Disabled people further away from being able to find employment. We recommend that Deaf and Disabled people are no longer sanctioned.
Inclusion London sent evidence to the Public Accounts Select Committee inquiry into benefit sanctions. Our evidence was informed by the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people.
Based on the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people we believe that sanctions are destructive; they do not provide an incentive to find work – they do the very opposite – they drive Deaf and Disabled people further away from being able to find employment. This is because sanctions leave Disabled people with very little money to buy food or pay for fuel or rent and the whole claimant commitment system has a huge detrimental impact on Disabled people’s health and wellbeing.
The National Audit Office report found that sanctions for Disabled people claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) reduce the amount of time in work and may discourage some Disabled people from working, also that there was limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) sanctions. [1]
Research led by the University of York found that the effects of welfare sanctions and conditional support were ‘profoundly negative.’ The research revealed that sanctions had ‘severely detrimental impacts financially, materially, emotionally and on health’. This research reflects the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people who have contacted us. Disabled people are being put at risk of being evicted and are using food banks due to sanctions. The whole claimant commitment system can destroy confidence and adversely impact Disabled people’s health and wellbeing so we made the following recommendations.
Recommendations
- Deaf and Disabled people are no longer sanctioned.
- At a very minimum, sanctions should be suspended until an independent review on the effectiveness of sanctions and the impact of on Deaf and Disabled people’s health and wellbeing is completed.
Inclusion London’s full response is available to download:
Inclusion London’s Evidence to the Benefit Sanctions Inquiry 2016
[1] https://www.nao.org.uk/report/benefit-sanctions/
Jobcentre Plus photo by J J Ellison.