Monitoring of DWP Sanctions - Coventry Area
Local advice agencies and support services have expressed concern about the impact of the DWP’s new sanctions regime upon claimants who may be considered “vulnerable” – e.g. because of language, literacy or mental health problems.
Local agencies have agreed that it would be valuable to monitor the frequency and impact of the sanctions. We have designed a monitoring form which we are asking all advisers to complete for each client they see who has received a sanction with regard to their Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
We have tried to keep the form to a manageable length so have not included all the client profile data which most advice agencies collect: we are aiming simply to collect data which will identify whether a claimant who has been sanctioned may be at a disadvantage because of factors such as those mentioned above.
Guidance for completing the form
• Please enter all the information available: if your client doesn’t have some of the information requested, please write “not known” in that column
• Ethnicity question: please enter the headings that you already use for your client records.
• Impact of the sanction: please explain briefly here what effect the sanction is having/is likely to have on the client and their family: e.g. their ability to meet essential household costs; impact on their mental or physical health
Collation of data
Please send completed forms by e-mail or post to the address below. For the time being, we will collate the data on a monthly basis.
How the Information will be used
The data will be analysed and used in reports to the DWP and others, to demonstrate the impact of sanctions generally and to identify particular groups of claimants who may be disproportionately affected by them. Any reports produced will also be made available to participating advice agencies.
The completed analysis will be returned to Janet Gurney at Coventry Law Centre.