Costs to Administer Sanctions Greatly Outweigh Savings
- Submitted by: George Adam, Paisley, Scottish National Party.
- Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
- Motion reference: S5M-02862
That the Parliament recognises the report produced by the National Audit Office on work sanctions imposed by Department for Work and Pensions, which stated that there is no evidence that sanctions work and that the scheme costs £153 million more to run each year than it saves; understands from the report that monitoring and applying sanctions costs £250 million and hardship payments cost £35 million, which compares with only £132 million saved through sanctions; condemns the UK Government on the costs to the taxpayer due to what it considers its dogma of targeting those most in need, and calls for a change in UK Government priorities in this regard.
Supported by:
Clare Adamson, Tom Arthur, Bob Doris, James Dornan, Linda Fabiani, Neil Findlay, John Finnie, Jenny Gilruth, Clare Haughey, Bill Kidd, Richard Lyle, Gordon MacDonald, Fulton MacGregor, Rona Mackay, Ruth Maguire, Gillian Martin, John Mason, Ivan McKee, Stuart McMillan, Pauline McNeill, Gil Paterson, Ash Regan, Gail Ross, Alex Rowley, Maree Todd, David Torrance, Sandra White