Posted on 2013-11-08 | 02:22

Roger has tabled an Early Day Motion to draw the Government’s attention to the high levels of sanctions handed out by Sparkhill jobcentre in Birmingham. Roger tabled the EDM in response to reports by his constituents that, rather than supporting people into work, the jobcentre was penalising people unfairly and imposing unnecessarily harsh conditions.

Speaking after meeting with constituents in Sparkhill, Roger said: “I am extremely concerned that Sparkhill jobcentre is putting severe sanctions on people who are trying their best to find work and comply with all the conditions of receiving JSA. Unfortunately, this problem is not limited to Sparkhill or even to Birmingham. People around the country who are looking for work in a very tough labour market are being sanctioned for such ridiculous ‘breaches’ as requesting to rearrange a jobcentre appointment to attend a job interview or a family funeral.” The number of sanctions handed out since the Government’s new regime was introduced on 22 October 2012 has increased by 11%, with more than 400,000 people being sanctioned.

Roger is also worried by the severity of the sanctions which are being imposed, with the length of time for which people are expected to live on an income of precisely nothing ranging between 13 weeks and a staggering 156 weeks. He commented: “This Cabinet of millionaires does not seem to understand that it is simply not possible for people to live without receiving any income for months or even years at a time. How on earth do the Government expect people to feed themselves, let alone travel to job interviews?”

Pushing people below the poverty line is not a magic recipe for creating jobs

Of course, people who are in receipt of benefits should be doing all they can to find work, but the Government refuses to accept that the vast majority of them already are. In a recent statement, Citizens Advice explained that the overwhelming majority of jobseekers are “desperate to get back into work”, and called on the Government to urgently reconsider the sanctions regime after a 64% rise in the number of problems with sanctions in just one year. Gillian Guy, the head of Citizen’s Advice, called the Coalition’s sanctions regime “excessively harsh and badly implemented”.

Roger concluded: “Pushing people below the poverty line is not a magic recipe for creating jobs, contrary to what the Government seem to think. All the increase in sanctions will achieve is to push more people into poverty and despair, ironically making them less, not more, employable. Why will the Government not invest in jobs rather than punishing people who are trying as hard as they can to find work?”

You can read the full text of the EDM here.