Poisonous benefits regime must be scrapped

The government's controversial system for stopping people's benefits must be scrapped, we will tell MPs.

The House of Commons' work and pensions committee is investigating the sanctions regime and we will be giving evidence later this month.

Sanctions can be imposed for even minor infringements or errors and for up to three years for those claiming jobseeker's allowance.

We have previously reported on the pressure advisers are under to recommend people's benefits are stopped.

Reports today into the opening of the committee's inquiry say ministers are being urged to suspend the use of sanctions until a review is carried out into their impact.

But we will tell the MPs the system should be scrapped entirely.

There is no evidence that sanctions encourage people to find sustainable employment or provide a "welcome jolt" as a DWP senior civil servant outrageously claimed.

All they do is poison the relationship between jobcentre staff and claimants, which makes it much more difficult to build the relationships required to help unemployed people back into work.

We will tell the inquiry a jobcentre should be a place that supports people, not a place of conflict and suspicion.