Systematic problems in the way the government administers and imposes benefit sanctions, including disproportionate burdens on the most vulnerable, are revealed in a report commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions.
The report found the way in which the DWP communicated with claimants was legalistic, unclear and confusing. The most vulnerable claimants were often left at a loss as to why benefits were stopped and frequently not informed by the DWP about hardship payments to which they were entitled, it said.
It also revealed serious flaws in how sanctions were imposed, with Work Programme providers required to send participants for sanctions when they knew they had done nothing wrong, leaving "claimants … sent from pillar to post".
The independent report was written for the DWP by Matthew Oakley, a respected welfare expert who is widely acknowledged as one of the leading thinkers on welfare on the centre right and as a result his criticisms, couched in careful language, are all the more damaging for a government that has consistently said the sanction regime is fair.
His main recommendations, which have been accepted by ministers, are:
All correspondence with claimants, including its style and content, should be reviewed
Claimants must be given personalised information about why they have been referred
Clear information must be given about the appeals process and access to hardship payments
A guide to benefit sanctions must be easily accessible in hard copy and online
Claimants who need particular help in understanding letters must be identified and spoken to
People should get information through their "preferred channel"
Procedures should be reviewed to ensure people have a clear understanding of their responsibilities
The DWP responded to the report by saying it would be updating the way it talked to benefit claimants, setting up a specialist team to look at all communications, including claimant letters, and working more closely with local authorities and advice centres to simplify the system.
Read more on this story in the Guardian and on BBC News
Read Matthew Oakley’s full report on the government website here
Comments
My advice is to join a Union Community group, take advice from them.
Make your request for a mandatory reconsideration a part of a sworn statement taken out in front of a solicitor research the format,and admire the rubber stamp [statement will cost you a fiver] That sort of paperwork frightens the ferry muck out of pen pushing civil servants. The last thing they want is a crip [like me] becoming a 'Ministers Case' Civil Servants are terrified of their line managers in such a way which is beyond most peoples understanding.
Above all else be calm with them.
I am going to do a FOI request about this, but just for jolly lets say I was Illiterate and innumerate with profound learning difficulties, I don't understand 'Labour Market Conditions' [I don't think IDS understands them either,he shipped them in from the States]
All this for rescheduling a meeting with a Union rep present, there is a big rabbit hopping around here.
I recently received an enquiry form from Wolverhampton asking me to explain why I did not attend the meeting on 23 June 2014, I gave evidence over the phone, and my Union rep sent 2 emails,and told me it was difficult to get them received. I went to sign on today to discover that I have been awarded a 4 week sanction for not attending on the 23 June 2014. I have been zealous in my job search and nobody at JC or the Work Programme provider could find anything wrong, so just at the last meeting, as a result of a diary change they stick me in the glasshouse.
I have Diabetes 2, Crepitus,Planta r Fasciitis,Strai n Injury all over, and Cataract in both eyes.
I have filled in the hardship form, and my union rep will send copies of all emails and covering letter to JC. I don't think they will make the sanction stick I am 61 !!
The Work Programme provider I have escaped from are notorious for getting sanctions on crips, am I glad I am off Work Programme. Where the hell are they coming from?
A question to all on here - do you really think that the DWP will willingly take all of this on board? - If they do, then I will willingly eat my hat, - but I honestly don't think that I will have to do that anytime soon!!
Yet another 'report', however well intentioned by it's author - it is full of good recommendations , but unless the DWP willingly takes these on board and quickly implements them, then it is again, an utter waste of time and probably the poor 'Taxpayer's money'.
After all, you can always take the horse to water, but it is not always possible to make him drink! The DWP would probably die of abject thirst first, before giving into it and their ultimate master, IDS.
Once again, it's a total disgrace what is being done to the sick and disabled people of this once, (but not now), great Country.