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Targets what targets?
Readers will have seen the rightsnet news story about Iain Duncan Smith denying there are targets for numbers of people being sanctioned:
Here is a link to the leaked letter:
It contains wonderful advice on how to trip jobseekers up: why not get them to do a Jobseeker Direction and then when they don’t its a sanction! eg the direction is given not to assist a person to get a job or improve likelihood of getting a job (as required by section 19(10)(b) JSA 1995, but to create the possibility for a sanction.
Appalling in every dimension. And in addition, laden with hideous jargon, menace expressed in a ‘hey guys’ tone and sprayed throughout with irrelevant apostrophes. How can JC+ advise claimants on letter-writing….?
Wonder what IDS will say now? PIPs for everyone - except for people with disabilities of course…...
DWP staff who wilfully disregard the law by having unlawful targets or by deliberately and unlawfully setting out to sanction people on a pretext, may have committed the criminal offence of misconduct in a public office.
and more ...
The head of the jobcentre programme, Neil Couling, has dismissed Guardian reports of the use of targets and league tables to sanction jobseeker claimants, saying that although he has launched an investigation into the case, his “hunch is this is an isolated incident and not something that is widespread”.
In a letter received by many jobcentre staff on Monday, he says: “We have said it many times before, there are no national targets for applying sanctions and individual targets should not appear in performance agreements.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/25/jobcentre-boss-targets-sanctions-jobseekers
and yet ...
Fresh written proof has been leaked showing Jobcentre staff are being set targets to sanction benefit claimants, and warned they will face disciplinary action if they do not meet the targets.
The document from the Malvern Jobcentre newsletter came as the head of the Department of Work and Pensions [DWP] estate Neil Couling insisted a previous leak to the Guardian showing targets was, according to his hunch, “an isolated incident and not something that is widespread”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/25/jobcentre-newsletter-sanctions-targets?CMP=twt_fd
from last week, but well worth a read/watch ...
A year ago he was managing a team of social workers.
Now: ‘I’m not proud to say I’ve gone begging’
http://m.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/22/jobseekers-story-benefit-sanctions
and here’s the hansard debate from the lords last night ...
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/130325-0003.htm#1303269000128
and more ...
Fresh written proof has been leaked showing Jobcentre staff are being set targets to sanction benefit claimants, and warned they will face disciplinary action if they do not meet the targets.
The document from the Malvern Jobcentre newsletter came as the head of the Department of Work and Pensions [DWP] estate Neil Couling insisted a previous leak to the Guardian showing targets was, according to his hunch, “an isolated incident and not something that is widespread”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/25/jobcentre-newsletter-sanctions-targets?CMP=twt_fd
Here is the link to the actual newsletter to which this story refers (please note- I’ve got no affiliation whatsoever to the labour party- labour list are hosting the leaked document):
Margaret Hodge, the chair of the public accounts committee, is to demand why a senior official at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) denied that staff at jobcentres were being given targets to enforce sanctions on benefit claimants’ money.
This comes as the Guardian publishes another set of evidence of a targets culture; internal documents show evidence of this at more than a dozen jobcentres around the country. Civil servants had said previous cases were isolated incidents.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/26/hodge-dwp-denial-jobcentre-targets
Jobcentre ‘scorecard’ shows how areas are performing on stopping benefits: Table emerges after ministers deny existence of targets for sanctioning benefit claimants over jobseeking efforts ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/28/jobcentre-scorecard-areas-stopping-benefits
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/interactive/2013/mar/28/jobcentre-sanctions-scorecard-full-table
I have a small question.
IDS said “I can absolutely commit to the fact that there are no targets for any sanctions whatsoever. To emphasise that, I should point out that the head of Jobcentre Plus has issued a reminder to everybody in the estate that there are no targets and that there will be no targets, and that anybody using those targets will be disciplined.”
As there are no targets then how can there be “anybody using those targets” who can be disciplined?