Sykes calls for sanctions probe

MORE needs to be done to help people who have been sanctioned under the benefits system, says Oldham council’s Lib-Dem Leader.

Councillor Howard Sykes has written to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, and the management team at Oldham Job Centre to ask what is being done to help the borough’s most vulnerable people.

He said: “I have asked the Secretary of State to establish an independent enquiry into the use of sanctions. Members of the Work and Pensions Select Committee have been calling for this for some time and I am happy to endorse this.

“The committee also called for pilot projects to test the idea of using a vulnerability guide to support vulnerable claimants and to issue warnings, or non-financial penalties, rather than imposing immediate sanctions for often trivial transgressions.

“Oldham has a particularly high level of sanctions so I have asked if the borough can be the location for one of these pilots,” he confirmed.

“I feel that it is beholden on Job Centre staff as public servants to make every effort to contact claimants before a sanction is applied so the claimant has the opportunity to change their job-seeking behaviour and that they should also be informed of their right to appeal and to make a claim for a hardship payment.”

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