Sanctions driving people from JSA but not into Jobs: evidence from CESI

It has been suspected for a while that sanctions were being used to drive down the Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claimant count.

I hadn't realised they were keeping tabs on this but a briefing noted issued today (14 May 2014) by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (CESI) shows that people really are being driven from JSA as a result of sanctions, but not into jobs.

Whilst observing that the JSA count continues to fall sharply the number of people who are unemployed but not receiving JSA jumped by 3,000 in a single month.

‘the number of unemployed people who are not receiving benefits or support remained high at 1.036 million, 3,000 up this month.’

The briefing goes on to make an explicit connection between the rising proportion of unemployed people not claiming JSA and the harsher sanctioning regime insisted on by the DWP since October 2012 (Chart 2, below).

Chart 2: Percentage of unemployed people not claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance

The proportion of unemployed people not claiming JSA has risen to 46.9% (1,036,000)
The number and proportion of unemployed people not claiming JSA have been rising since the new
JSA sanctions regime started in October 2012.