Almost £1m has been 'clawed back' from people in Glasgow in DWP sanctions this summer.

The total value of sanctions was revealed in the latest official House of Commons data on the level of sanctions imposed across the UK.

Chris Stephens. Glasgow South West SNP MP asked the Minister for Work and Pensions about the sanctions and called for a ‘yellow card warning system’ to be in place to prevent people from losing vital cash immediately.

READ MORE: Revealed: the highest and lowest expenses claims of the Glasgow MSPs

He said “sanctions are back with a vengeance” and said there was concern that DWP staff were under pressure to impose sanctions on claimants.

The figures showed that in Glasgow over June, July and August there were sanctions to the value of £937,000 imposed on people.

Glasgow Times:

The average value of the cash lost to each claimant was around £260 with thousands of people across the city affected.

The DWP said people only get sanctioned if they fail to meet the terms they agreed to.

The sanctions were divided into the seven Glasgow Westminster constituencies.

Glasgow Central was highest with £174,000 taken from people’s benefits over the three months.

Glasgow East had £160,000 taken from people and South West was third highest with £157,000 clawed back.

North East had £153,000 worth of sanctions imposed, Glasgow South had £114,000 taken from people, North West had £99,000 removed and Glasgow North was lowest with £80,000 worth of sanctions.

READ MORE: List of places open in Glasgow to help people keep warm

Across the UK more than £100m was taken from people’s benefit payments over the three months with the total increasing each month.

Stephens said: "In June 2022, just over £34 million was clawed back by the DWP in Great Britain.

“In Scotland, the August figure was £2.3 million, and in Glasgow South West the figure was £57,000.

“The average deduction in August was £262 a month, which is a considerable sum of money to deduct from someone’s social security.

“The figures suggest that the aggressive attitude we saw between 2013 and 2015 is back among us.”

He said foodbanks were getting referrals on average every three days because of sanctions and feared DWP staff were being forced to sanction more people.

Stephens added: “There are concerns that jobcentres have been told by senior managers and Ministers to ‘up their game’ when it comes to sanctions.

“There is inter-office competition, whereby different offices’ statistics are compared, pushing for higher sanction and deferral rates, and labour market decision makers are using box-ticking exercises. 

“Sanctions appear to be back with a vengeance, and that shift of approach requires parliamentary scrutiny.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “People are only sanctioned if they fail, without good reason, to meet the conditions they agree, and emphasis is placed on protecting vulnerable claimants.

“Our priority is to help people to find and stay in work and the latest figures show the majority of sanctions were applied due to claimants failing to attend mandatory appointments with their Work Coach.

“If a claimant disagrees with a sanction, they can ask for this to be reconsidered and can appeal to an independent tribunal.”