DrugScope Responds To DWP's Statement On Benefit Sanctions For Alcohol Dependent Claimants

Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 20 Apr 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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DrugScope has responded to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell's announcement that the government will carry out a review into the potential effectiveness of the use of benefit sanctions for people with alcohol dependency who fail to engage or stay in treatment.

The government's Welfare Reform Bill includes specific measures for people with problematic illegal drug or alcohol use. The Bill introduces new requirements for people to answer questions about drug use, to attend for an assessment and for drug testing. The Bill can also require a problem drug user to engage with drug treatment as a condition of receiving benefit. The Bill includes the power to extend the new measures to cover alcohol as well as drugs and yesterday's announcement from the Secretary of State confirms that the government is giving consideration to the approach.

DrugScope chief executive Martin Barnes said:

"DrugScope welcomes the government's commitment to supporting problem drug and alcohol users into work, but we have concerns about the merits of using benefit sanctions as a way of doing this.

"DrugScope has consistently expressed concerns over provisions in the government's Welfare Reform Bill which could see people who use drugs dependently and who fail to engage in treatment having their benefit cut. The Bill includes the power for these measures to be extended to cover alcohol dependent welfare claimants and yesterday's announcement from the Secretary of State confirms that the government is actively considering such a move.

"We welcome the fact that the Government is engaging with the problems faced by people with drug or alcohol dependency issues when they try and re-enter the job market. But we feel that the positive and supportive aspects of this policy could be undermined by the threat of withdrawal of benefits for those who do not engage with or remain in treatment. There is no evidence that using benefit sanctions to compel people into treatment will be effective. Withdrawing benefits could be counterproductive, driving some people further away from the support they need and potentially impacting upon their families financially and emotionally in the process.

"Previous schemes that use benefit sanctions as a way of encouraging behaviour change or compliance with stipulations appear to have had little success. In February the government announced it is abandoning a sanction-led pilot scheme for offenders on community sentences, after it resulted in only a 1.8 per cent improvement in compliance and cost £5.60 in public money for every £1 saved [1]."

Notes

[1] Information on sanction-led pilot scheme for offenders on community sentences

The government have recently reported on the results of a sanction-led regime for offenders on community sentences - in pilot areas these claimants faced sanctions for failing to comply with the court order.

On 27 Feb 2009 Justice Minister David Hanson told the House of Commons that the government 'plan to end the benefit sanctions pilots subject to parliamentary approval...The decision has been made following evaluation that showed the pilots did not provide sufficient value for money to justify their continuation.'

Source
DrugScope

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