are sanctions legal

red_devil

Trying to find out it it legal to sanction someone on jsa.

heartbreak_star

Well, yes, it happens every day for various reasons.

What are the circumstances around the sanction?

HBS x

Morglin

Yes it is, but only got certain reasons, they are supposed to justify it, and as you know, you can ask for MR, and then appeal the sanction, if you think it's unjust.

Many, many sanctions get overturned on appeal, and the JC should have provided you with info as to how to appeal.

Lin

jetplane

Yes all decisions are subject to social security law.

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 details the legislation. Here is a direct link to JSA sanctions legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/5/section/46/enacted

The difficulty is that many of the JSA advisers who refer for sanction will never have seen the legislation. The law is written, it is interpreted by DWP, it is further interpreted and summarised with examples in the Decision Makers Guidance, it is interpreted for training and targets or performance levels and by the time it is passed down to the advisers it is no longer fit for purpose.

Morglin

'Twas ever thus, with government regs and workers at the DWP/JC.

However, they should be able to look up the regs and if they can't look them up and understand them, an appeal tribunal certainly will!

Lin

jetplane

Lin I agree which is why the decision is sent to the DM. The number of sanctions that are being imposed which are more to do with interpretation or lack of knowledge rather than law are a concern though. The sanction may well be overturned but the hardship that is created meanwhile is a woeful lack of duty. In my opinion.

Morglin

Yeah, I agree.

Except in the most extreme of cases, these sanctions are the bile and spite of a failing government, trying to prove some sort of point.

Lin

FluffyDuck3

I was wondering about this too.

In one of the benefit letters, where it outlines their calculations, it states your allowance as the amount the law says you need to live off. So one law says you need this amount and other legislation says they can take it away.

rogerblack

FluffyDuck3 wrote: »

I was wondering about this too.

In one of the benefit letters, where it outlines their calculations, it states your allowance as the amount the law says you need to live off. So one law says you need this amount and other legislation says they can take it away.

The problem there is the letter is hideously badly written.
What it actually means is something like 'the amount specified for people receiving the benefit you are'.

Sanctions can reduce this amount, set it to zero, or mean you are no longer entitled to claim.

laineybird2000

I thought there should be some scope to take a sanction to court on fairness grounds. It always struck me as incredibly unfair that one person must do 40 actions and spend 7 hours a day job searching, where as another person may only have to do 9 actions per week. It's all just so objective. Shouldn't there be a set amount of actions and a set amount of hours to spend job searching.

FluffyDuck3

rogerblack wrote: »

The problem there is the letter is hideously badly written.
What it actually means is something like 'the amount specified for people receiving the benefit you are'.

Sanctions can reduce this amount, set it to zero, or mean you are no longer entitled to claim.

I see, so it isn't really part of the law? More a guideline.

Do sanctions go against any EU regulations? They can put people in poverty with absolutely nothing to live on for a few weeks.