Half a million people have benefits suspended in welfare crackdown

‘Nearly half a million people have had their benefits suspended over the past year after they failed to do enough to find work, turned down job offers or missed Jobcentre appointments, according to new figures.

A total of 466,000 people were hit by sanctions which saw them barred from claiming Job Seekers Allowance for an average of between four weeks and three months.

However, 2,000 repeat offenders were hit by significantly harder sanctions and had their benefits stopped for the next three years, including 49 single parents and 978 people under the age of 24.’

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