Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the imposition of a three-year benefit sanction on the health of people subject to such sanctions.

The sanctions system is designed to encourage claimants to comply with the reasonable requirements placed upon the receipt of their benefit. A very small minority of JSA claimants have ever received a three year sanction and the vast majority engage positively with the support designed to help them get back into work.

Three year sanctions only apply where claimants have consistently and deliberately breached their most important requirements at least three times within a year. This includes failing to take up a job when it is on offer or being dismissed for misconduct from a previous job.

If a sanction is applied, claimants are able to apply for hardship payments.