Rochdale has third highest rate of sanctioning benefit claimants in Greater Manchester

Rochdale has the third highest rate for sanctioning benefit claimants in Greater Manchester with 4,078 sanctions made between October 2012 and December 2013.

In a report issued by New Economy, the job centre on Fleece Street falls behind Oldham which has the highest sanction rate and Bolton the second highest rate.

In an average month, the job centre on Fleece Street receives 3,222 claimants with 250 of them receiving sanctions in December 2013.

In December 2013, the job centre on Taylor Street, Heywood had 783 claimants with a total of 73 sanctions. Middleton job centre had 1,259 claimants with 90 sanctions being made.

In giving reasons as to why some job centres have more sanctions then others, the report says: “The most likely explanation for why certain job centres issue more sanctions than others is that they have larger numbers of claimants to manage.”

In their report, New Economy also states that “Expressed as a percentage, total adverse sanctions in Greater Manchester were 7.6% of total Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants in December 2013. In Great Britain, the figure was 5.6%.”