A new blog by our project’s Peter Dwyer and Janis Bright considers this week’s National Audit Office report on benefit sanctions. The report finds that only limited evidence exists on the outcomes and effectiveness of benefit sanctions leading to increased participation in paid work.

The authors summarise the first wave findings from our own research, which found extensive evidence on the negative effects of conditionality and benefit sanctions. Our work to date suggests the common thread linking stories of successful transitions into work, or the cessation of problematic behaviour, was not so much the threat or experience of sanction, but the availability of appropriate individual support. Read the blog