Tracey HerringtonEMPOWERING SANCTIONED CLAIMANTS

Lisa’s story Lisa is a single parent with 2 children

Had been on JSA for 2 years and signed a Job Centre Agreement (Claimant Commitment) setting out the steps she would take to look for work and agreeing to apply for a set number of jobs

Lisa started work for 15 hours per week so still had to sign on

Due to her working hours, she was unable to apply for her ‘agreed’ number of jobs

She was sanctioned ‘with no end date’, she was informed by letter of this decision and not given any information re: impact on other benefits and hardship payments despite seeking advice

Josh’s story Josh is 19 years old and has now had 2 sanctions

He was living in a Hostel due to family breakdown

Josh was offered a place to stay with a friend so left the hostel

He informed the Job Centre of this move and provided them with his new address

A letter was sent to the hostel after he had moved out – advising him to attend an appointment with the Job Centre- Josh did not receive this letter

He did not receive his JSA so rang the Job Centre to be informed that he had been sanctioned

Josh appealed but was unsuccessful

Josh is now on an apprenticeship programme but has been informed that he will still be on a sanction should he need to make a JSA claim in the future

The Impact: Putting it into Perspective

Imagine this situation was forced upon you by your employer, who decided to withhold a month’s salary because you were late for a meeting, or failed to meet your performance targets one week

How would you cope – imagine your income stopped suddenly tomorrow?