In our latest guest opinion piece, Dr David Webster from the University of Glasgow gives his critical view on the presentation of sanction figures. After their election in 2010, he writes, ministers embarked on a campaign of ‘sanctions’, that is, withdrawals of benefit, against claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance. They inherited a level of 533,000 a year, but drove it up to a peak of over one million in the year to October 2013, while also increasing the length of the penalties. Numbers of sanctions have since fallen, but only to a rate which is similar to the highest seen before 2010. It happened without any announcement, taking claimants and voluntary organisations by surprise. Read the full blog post
In this guest opinion piece, David Webster from the University of Glasgow gives his critical view on the presentation of sanction figures
After their election in 2010, ministers embarked on a campaign of ‘sanctions’, that is, withdrawals of benefit, against claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance. They inherited a level of 533,000 a year, but drove it up to a peak of over one million in the year to October 2013, while also increasing the length of the penalties. Numbers of sanctions have since fallen, but only to a rate which is similar to the highest seen before 2010. Employment and Support Allowance sanctions have also increased. Britain’s voluntary sector has produced a forest of reports documenting the huge negative impact of the sanctions campaign on their vulnerable service users. But throughout, the government has tried to minimise it. It happened without any announcement, taking claimants and voluntary organisations by surprise. While official statements since 2013 have frequently highlighted the falls that have taken place, during the run-up to the peak they always denied that there was any clear trend. And the DWP routinely claims that ‘sanctions are only ever used as a last resort,’ ‘in a small (or ‘tiny’) minority of cases’. Similarly, it has persistently denied that sanctions drive people to food banks, in spite of the evidence. Read More
Publications We’ll be setting out our key ‘first wave’ findings across the nine policy and service areas we’re studying on 12 May. There will be an overview to draw together the main themes. The papers will be available here on our website. Read More
The eight PhD research students linked to our project presented their work at an event in York recently. View their slide presentations.
Following the recent ‘bedroom tax’ hearing in the UK Supreme Court, our guest writer Jed Meers from the University of York considers the potential implications of an important upcoming judgment for policies relying on elements of conditionality. Read the full story
Following the recent ‘bedroom tax’ hearing in the UK Supreme Court, Jed Meers from the University of York considers the potential implications of the upcoming judgment for policies relying on elements of conditionality
The much litigated Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy – more commonly known as the ‘bedroom tax’ – has limped its way to the UK Supreme Court.* Many will understandably assume the case has few consequences beyond the claimants involved. The policy is fairly narrow in scope and to some extent has been superseded by the upcoming lowering of the benefit cap and changes to Local Housing Allowance (not to mention the ever-imminent Godot of social policy, Universal Credit). There is, however, more here than immediately meets the eye. Read More
A learned journal paper on Universal Credit by our team members has proved so popular that the publishers are offering it free for a month. ‘Universal Credit, ubiquitous conditionality and its implications for social citizenship’, written by Prof Peter Dwyer and Dr Sharon Wright, considers the punitive system of tiered sanctions and fines within Universal Credit. They argue UC represents a major expansion and intensification of personalised behavioural conditionality, and indicates the ubiquity of conditionality at the heart of twenty-first century UK social citizenship.
The paper was one of the most downloaded from the Journal of Poverty & Social Justice in 2015. In celebration, the journal is making it free to download this month. Get your copy here.
Prof Dwyer is based at the University of York and Dr Wright at the University of Glasgow.
Findings from the first wave of our research on social housing are published today. The research by Prof Suzanne Fitzpatrick and Dr Beth Watts from Heriot Watt University focuses on fixed-term tenancies in social housing. It includes views from landlords and tenants, as well as other stakeholders.
The research found that fixed-term tenancies are causing considerable anxiety for some tenants, particularly those with a disability or health problems and for families with children. Some of the social landlords who were initially most enthusiastic about FTTs have become disillusioned about them because it seems unlikely they will generate any significant number of additional lettings. There are also concerns about administrative cost and complexity and the potential to destabilise communities.
The research project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is continuing until 2018. Our project team is interviewing tenants twice more over time.
Read the full report
A warm welcome to Vici Armitage, who is covering as Project Manager while Fleur Hughes is on maternity leave. Vici joins us after completing her work as a research associate and project manager at the University of Leicester. She holds a PhD in young people and anti-social behaviour.
Scotland’s Sunday Herald newspaper has featured early findings from our research in a major story on Universal Credit. The newspaper explored the issue of welfare sanctions and support for people who are already working. The issue is the topic of a Commons select committee inquiry to which our project has submitted evidence. Our full ‘first wave’ findings will be published later in the Spring. Read the Herald story. Our evidence submission
