CAS provided written evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee’s investigation into the new sanctions regime.
This report shows that sanctions now make up nearly one in five (18%) of all JSA issues in bureaux; sets out the types of problems clients face when they have been sanctioned, the situation for Employment and Support Allowance claimants who are sanctioned, often without notification of the mandatory nature of the requirements on them and the consequences of not meeting them. The report also calls for a fundamental and public review of the purpose of sanctions, including what the connection is to the growth in use of foodbanks. We make a number of detailed recommendations to make the system work better for claimants, including a call for a delay between notifying a claimant of a sanction and the stopping of their benefit so that clients can plan how they will manage with no money.