Iain Duncan Smith coughing and drinking a glass of water before he answers a question. He knows he's talking bullshit. And he doesn't care.

Many of the long term unemployed here in the UK are considered by potential Employers to be "unemployable", and the sad thing is they probably don't even realise it. If you have been unemployed for 6 months or longer, if you're one of the over 50's, if you do not belong to the highly skilled or professional class etc etc - you may well fall into the "unemployable" category. A friend of mine in Brazil told me they run all kinds of courses for the unemployed in her Country, the idea being to turn the unskilled into skilled workers and make them valuable once again in the jobs market. Could that be the reason why Brazil is gradually climbing upwards, while the UK is heading in the opposite direction? Let us not forget that Brazil is also seen as a 3rd World Country by European standards yet they have a much more enlightened philosophy when it comes to tackling long term unemployment. Here in the UK Employers will not even train their staff anymore, but rather they expect you to have all the necessary and required skills BEFORE you apply. The prejudice and discrimination the jobless are facing here in the UK is too bad to be true.

This is absolutely horrible, what is wrong with the British public!!! we should NOT be taking this and allowing these poor people to be treated in this way. Go to your window and shout I'm as mad as hell and Im not taking this anymore...

And those poor buggers getting sanctioned will then have to go to a food bank......this is worse than WWII times.

It's an absolute disgrace what is happening in this country. The government and corporations have turned their backs on so many people. Zero Hours, low pay and temp jobs are the norm nowadays. Politicians are the scum of the earth!

Sanctions should be banned

There are 2 million people or more unemployed and less than 400,000 jobs available, people usually comfortable and working themselves, usually say stupid shit like "Just get a job", but obviously you can't if your not lucky, they simply don't understand the issue, that is until they themselves are sack and left to the vulture's to pick at.

Certain people in this world have a brutal comeuppance way overdue. Leaving people with no money is pretty much a death sentence.

Tha one man 12 years in the army and now in a food bank!! Scandals he should me livn on a fat pension.. kills me seen shit like tha

"£71 PW. Okay, you can live off that." Erm im sorry to differ, but. Not on this planet..

I had an accident in early December 2014. At the time I was 4 weeks from going back to work, as I am a seasonal employee . During my 6 week break from work, unable to find temporary employment, I claimed JSA. For whatever reason my 2nd signing day was 13 days instead of what was supposed to be 14 days. I arrived for my appointment a day late. I was told that NO EXCUSE IS ACCEPTED, and that I would be sanctioned for 6 weeks with no money. I returned to work Jan 12th 2015 before the sanction was finished. After a week or so, I started to get a lot of pain in my lower back. I remembered the accident in December 2014 and realised the 2 were related. I ended up taking sick leave and get £74 per week SSP. I now have to have an operation on my back. I had made a No Win No Fee claim in December 2014, as the accident wasn't my fault. I received a letter from DWP stating that if I win any compensation, the DWP would be claiming my JSA money they paid me , from the other party. Strange that . I WAS SANCTIONED . I didn't get any money. So they want money for nothing. The system is so corrupt.

You can fill out dozens of Job applications every week but the trouble is you might be regarded by prospective employers as simply unemployable (and nobody even has the decency to tell you). The slightest blemish in your work history (which you might consider unimportant or ancient history) might be the sole cause of your misfortune and you'll never know. The race for jobs (even the barrel scraping ones) under the Tories is "survival of the fittest" and whatever can be held against you, will be

Its human rightss violation to punish a British citizen because he can;t find a job! Where are the British judges?

Most job seekers just won't a full time job that pays a wage, there is no need for job centre plus in its present form, most jobs now days you have to apply on-line so why not just post your job search one a fortnight via a email this way there would be no need to visit a job centre, also the government would save millions also scrape the work programme that is costing billions each year. Job centre sanctions should be recognise for what they are a crime against humanity, it is persecution of a section of society by starving them. this county needs a real left-wing alternative.

That's bollocks. I know of somebody who was made to sign every week,, and had to apply to 18 jobs in that week to keep benefits. The job centre marked three positions on the DirectGov site for them to apply to, and they simply forgot, HOWEVER, they still made the marked 18 jobs applied for, so no problem. The JC reffered it to the sanctioning people, who stopped the money for 1 month, then the job centre started pulling appointments out of the blue, some times the day after a singing date, No letters were sent out, so this person confused missed two of those appointments, being under pressure to make the 18 applications and remember appointment dates, on one occasion 5 appointments in one week at varied times, some early moring some afternoon. They got sanctioned from April to the end of August 2014. They have had no money since April. Now what's that crap about?

I was on the work program and they didn't help me find any work, I found it myself. I started working and enjoyed it, I'm a mother of two children and my husband would drop and pickup the kids from school. My husband was arrested and sentence to prison, so I didn't have anyone to pick up the kids from school, I spoke to my advisor on the work program who didn't help, ended up loosing my job because I was a bank staff so they didn't have to keep me on, since then I spend my day doing job search, on a good day I do 100+ job search and always gets their automatic message saying I have not been successfully this time. my work program came to an end and I was sent back to the jobcentre, I was told that I have to sign weekly and yet when I sign I get no form of help. what is the point really!

CANT YOU SEE IT PEOPLE? WE NEED TO GET THIS GOVERMENT OUT!!! REVOLUTION!!! COME ON PEOPLE!!! TAKE TO THE STREETS LETS DO IT!!!

every time the tory's are voted in this is what happens .and the problem is that we now have three tory partys

Wow, I used to fear being sanctioned, but No more. I've got to that stage where I want to get sanctioned so I can have an excuse to end my life. I'm extremely self conscious about a physical problem that would cost £5,000 to alter. I need a good job so I can save money, but my relative poor education means I can only do basic minimum wage jobs to sort out my mess. After hundreds of failed job applications and 1 interview since 2012 I have come to the conclusion that it would be easier to die than to live. I go from doing a job search to a pro-suicide forum. That's not living.

Duncan-Smith gives slapheads a bad name. Tories hate the working class, especially people on benefits.

October 2017. Nothing has changed. Thank you The Guardian for your efforts, but no one is listening. Thatcher would struggle with modern Tory values. The people of Britain have closed their eyes and doors to injustice, they give money to 'Children in Need ' and pray that their not next.

its targets and the government to say unemployment has gone down but in reality its up but everyone gets booted off.

they are being so corrupt to me im soooooo stressed by them, im unable to work im very sick and they driving me even iller

Don't vote for the Tories people! When will you learn?

I'm surprised no one has created a YT video to assist claimants with JSA appeals and to inform them of the legislation they can cite. Jobcentres often issue sanction unlawfully. Those very few videos I've seen purporting to advise claimants on YT are not very well researched, unfortunately.

Jobseekers it seems can be sanctioned at the complete whim of an adviser. Some of the reasons given are draconian, nonsensical and downright cruel. The question is why can a jobseeker not sanction JCP or the Work Prog? Suppose a jobseeker is 5 mins late for signing. He runs the risk of a sanction. Now lets say his is on time or even 5 mins early. He is still usually kept waiting for 10, 15 or even 25 mins until he is seen! Who can he sanction for poor servive? Is his time not valuable also?

"People are sanctioned for not taking work" no it's more because they refuse to constantly do 4-6 weeks of the same employability course about cvs and cover letters.

Thank you for letting me know. I now know that if I should ever personally fall victim to this benefits sanction atrocity, I will not be able to pay my rent or the iniquitous Bedroom Tax. So in addition to potential starvation and hypothermia, you also have to worry about eviction and the possibility of freezing to death on the cold & lonely streets? Perhaps the Jobcentre staff should offer claimants a free cyanide capsule with every sanction just in case it all becomes too unbearable?

It may seem trivial to those not caught at the hard end of society - but for example a simple thing like closing local job centres so that hundreds of people than have to commute 15+miles to get to a 'centralised' centre costs 15% of the weekly benefit you would otherwise have received as this has to be spent on transport - or you get 'struck off'. Essentially the cost reduction obtained on the public purse is then funded out of benefits that was previously used for food/heating. It is criminal that a modern society does not look after its poorest and most vulnerable - but I guess that's the legacy of thatcher's 'caring conservatism' - the destruction of British family life and cultural values.. (queue also CSA commentary)

Wot on earth are these people suppose to do without money. They will be on the streets for not paying rent and bills. This is so wrong.

My sanction ended last Thursday, I have been put forward to receive another sanction for failing to attend a job interview. I told them I couldn't get there as it was 19 miles away and I had no money due to my last sanction, They told me that I should have walked...... Lost almost a stone in weight from lack of food and been emitted to hospital for malnutrition, I am now having to apply for ESA as I am unfit for work. I want to fucking work, it's a complete and utter joke.

There free food and accommodation in the jails; seen this on one of the uk police programs, a homeless guy, who lost everything because of sanctions, would on a weekly basis, would commit some sort of crime. The end result, he got a bed and food for a few days, and the police said, he knows what he is doing, but they must follow the law

As a single father I’ve learned you have to study hard & look in to everything to get the right benefits , I’ve finally got it sorted now & I try to teach others but most people get confused by it & get constantly sanctioned

We wouldn't have such high unemployment if the government never put so many immigrants in the country.

I have been long term sick for more than a decade and have been passed unfit by doctors from the benefits agency i am due another assessment by ATOS in a few weeks and feel its only a matter of time before im passed fit in the current climate,the way the sick and vulnerable and unemployed are now treated is disgusting but frightening for those of us on the receiving end these people have the power to destroy our lives and seem to want to cause maximum pain and humiliation.

the jobcentre has sanctioned me four times from January to April , each one was overturned in my favour(eventually). just because i have a bit of a speech impediment they assumed i was stupid (vulnerable as they would put it)..... i may not be able to speek properly, but I can write a shit hot letter.

Yes I have seen that happen to a lady who had forgotten her book, she even offered to go home and come back with it, JCP wouldnt listen, she started crying and was escorted out. when she went out the advisors then started having a laugh about i bet she's off to the pub for a good weap. The man next to me shouted at them saying i bet you feel really good saying that and doing that to that young lady dont you. Their reply was she has done this a few times. Scary times being unemployed.

My claim was closed because of an error made by the people I sign on with. They some how "lost" my job search evidence and then had the nerve to send me a letter saying that they couldn't pay me from such and such a date because I had failed to sign my declaration!! Utter bollocks!! I signed on as I do every 2 weeks and they miss placed my signing on evidence and now I'm without money until I can get a rapid reclaim sorted.

The Tories have sharpened up their act since they were last in power. Whereas Thatcher's iniquitous Poll Tax affected all working people (including those on benefits); the Bedroom Tax on the other hand is aimed exclusively at all those claiming Housing Benefit (so its sole purpose is to punish the unemployed, sick & disabled). Can you imagine if this Tax affected everybody in the UK? Just imagine the outrage if most working people had to cough up at least £18 a week for a spare Bedroom?

I believe that The Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions should be charged with corporate manslaughter for all the deaths their department make in their name. I believe that the charge should be made at the end of the MP's tenure in the role. The reason I believe this is that if a private companies decisions caused someone to lose their life then they would be charged with corporate manslaughter, why should there be one rule for the population and one rule for those in power.

Does anyone from the Luton and Dunstable area want to make a stand about the crap service and lies we get from these advisors??? Would yous be willing to protest outside the Luton Job Centre??? If I can get 100+ replies from those of yous that want to make a stand then I will arrange the day, the more of us the better, nothing will ever change unless people make a stand, the more that attend the protest the more greater our voices will be. Don't let them get away with trying to fob you off, unless you would like to work in a £ store for your allowance.

such a terrible situation to put people in. I pay taxes to help people like this gentleman. so very sad.

This is the main reason I no longer vote Labour as it was them who introduced Benefit Sanctions in the first place as part of their shitty New Deal scheme, and they continue to support Sanctions today. The 'Jobs Guarantee' is underpinned by Sanctions. Vote Green.

If people have no money for food etc, then the crime rate will go through the roof! These people are supposed to help the genuine "in need" they are creating a massive problem for themselves in the long run.

"when you hear something bad about someone no questions are asked but if that bad thing should turn to a good thing then people question it" dont stereo-type people just because its what the sheep do, you might think i'm a total dick and what not but truth be told if we were walking down the same street and you tripped in front of me i would help you back to your feet and i have no doubt that you would do the same "judge from your own experience and not from others influence"all thebest skif

The Uk goverment should be disgraced of its self for allowing the job centers too behave in this way.

£71 a week in 2013 it's £73 a week now in 2018 - that's a rise of just £2 in five years.

looking for sanctions no reason is disgusting

I couldn't be a job centre employee stopping people's survival money

Government has lot of money but it just doesnot want to give to its people. Instead it uses all money for unnecesary things.

iain duncan smith should be sanctioned from getting his food and everything else all on TAX payers money and see how he would cope

the problem is its the genuine unemployed that suffer,the ones who dont know how the system works,the ones with 10 kids and taking the piss,still get away with it.

They say "It's law to have a job match/search account, law to put your profile on it too". It is NOT law however to give them permission to see or check your account as yet. We have a right we are ALL entitled to..The right to privacy! Don't let them and their draconian law bully you into thinking otherwise! People must stand up for their fundamental rights or we run the very real risk of slipping into a surveillance society.

My wife and I are on a joint JSA claim. Se has been sanctioned because some woman at the Jobcentre has decided she hasn't done enough to find work, but MY money has been stopped as well. Nothing went into my bank at the weekend. My bank account is MINUS £320. That is my bank limit. Loads of bills are about to go out of my bank account in a couple of days. I don't know what I'm going to do

i missed and appointment with my adviser and was sanctioned for 1 month, (the reason i missed the appt was because i was volunteering at my local school and totally forgot about it) after a month i got a payment of around £70, and jus when my sanction was going to be lifted i was slammed with another months sanction because i was 10 mins late >signing on!< the reason i was late was because i was totally skint and couldn't get the bus..... £70 to live on for eight weeks.... no one listens, why?

IDS was unbelievably stupid and out of touch.

I have just been sanctioned for a ''MONTH'' I failed to attend an Interview for a work programme meeting, the letter for such an appointment never arrived. Bank account Current balance £0.00 12 day's without any money, the food bank is only open 3 day's out of 7. I have had to go into Tesco and Asda to get the free tester food, I have been living of Tester Bread. The worst part of it all, I have an Interview 19 miles away on Tuesday, Guess what I have no bus fair to get there.

MPs. Are on £80000 a year. Sign the petitions.

This was 10 years ago, just look where we are now.

Well said James. They cut money left, right and center. Food prices rise elec/gas prices rise then add insult to injury by introducing flippen bedroom tax. When you rent a house/flat the contract/agreement states a weekly rent to obviously rise with inflation,but I can't find anywhere on my tenants agreement that new taxes or unmentioned extra rent could and will be added when and if they feel like it! Surley that is extortion and bordering on illegal?Non-complience is the only way.Don't pay it!

I got sanctioned from Huntingdon Jobcentre a few years ago for around 4 months and for about a month 'no one' at the jobcentre could tell me what happened. I spoke to the jobcentre and the district jobcentre and they both told me to speak to each other because they couldn't help me. I continued to sign my local jobcentre and received no money at all for 4 months including I believe my N.I. stamp. A few weeks after my sanction had ended I received a letter from the DWP informing me of the reasons of my sanction. This letter should have been given to me at the jobcentre at the start of my sanction and not almost 5 months later! People get sanctioned but the jobcentre feels nothing about this as we the 'benefit class'

I've had an 'advisor' produce a job posting out of nowhere and then try to sanction me for not applying for it, claiming I'd been given it last time I'd signed on, and why hadn't I applied for it? I hadn't seen the damn thing before at all. Fortunately, she should have looked at my profile before pretending I was supposed to be doing a heavy-lifting job I can't physically do, but she STILL put the sanction in after being caught making shit up. I was actually surprised when they deigned to not sanction me for not applying to a phantom job I can't do. Now I know why she did that, I guess.

The old saying theirs jobs out there for everybody but that's not the case

Surely this has to be some sort of discrimination aimed at the unemployed and vunerable members of society?Orchestrated by people who should know better,such as the prime minister and home secretary etc, They manipulate the public into believing the unemployed are all lazy or scroungers activly promoting the ostracizing of these groups of people.They also contradict their own rules of jsa entitlement, as your not entitled if you work over16hrs,yet they intend for you to work 30hrs for jsa?

anybody who sticks up for the "they stop your benefits because you dont look for work is full of shit and obviously never been in that situation"they stop it because they can...plain and simple...i just been laid off from a job in february..im a contractor..so in and out of work...jsa cant find me a job which pays £18 an hour..which i was recieving before i signed on...

your money is stopped. the snideyness and bullying gives you anxiety and depression issues so you can claim ESA instead.

and btw skiff i volunteer in my local school a couple of days a week, helping maintain their garden and general maintenance, my supervisor approached me the other day with a form asking people if the would like to volunteer fulltime for an 8 week course working for the council with a 63% chance of further employment on finishing the course, i snatched it of her and applied straight away and am starting next week, when i told the jobcentre about this they said"o ye were supposed to hand them ou-

She is in the process of losing her home as she is in arrears. She came crying to me not knowing where to turn or what to do. The benefit system was put in place to help those who find themselves out of a job. And they are refusing to help her because she only managed to find 16 jobs that accepted her application that week not 20.

Hey if they make you clean litter etc for 30hrs a wk, how are you going to be available for work? You wont be able to do your job serches etc, so after skivving round all week picking up other ppls rubbish they will probably sanction you for not doing your serches lol. Who do these people think we are? I would refuse point blank at the dog mess , you dont know what you'll catch.. and what if while picking up litter god forbid a needle jabs you are the govt ready for big law suits?

The jobcenter is the modern day equiv of a Victorian workhouse! I see no diffrence!

They are but not always by their own doing. If you're a millionaire and you left your nice 1mil in the bank that pays you 4% on your money - you would earn 40k per year in interest. If you have £10 in the bank and spend £20 you will go into the red and you will be charged perhaps £30 for the privilege of doing so. In a round about way the bank will then use your £30 fee to give to MR millionaire as a thank you for having so much money in the first place.

The guardian seems to be the only mainstream paper concerned with these issues in recent times. Everyone else brushes it under the carpet. While I'm not exactly a fan of the guardian these days I appreciate that they cover stuff like this and hope they will continue to do so.

People with learning difficulties should not be on UC at all.

I live in Manchester and I want to go to work but there is no work...

As my dad says when the tories are in they only care about the rich, from what I've seen its mostly true, they don't have a real understanding of life. It wouldn't surprise with the JSA Staff aswell they can claim everything back, travel expenses on top of there massive wages of im guessing 8/9 pound an hour. But try working on 4.98 if you're my age or 6.20, and see how far that's lasts, but none of them are prepared to work like a private sector worker, gone a but off topic, but just annoys me

Using people’s lives as a way to get performance payments.....nice

-t to jobseekers!!! why the hell did these people in the job centre not hand one to me at an earlier date!!! i'll tell you why, because they see people and automatically stereo-type them and unlawfully withhold information from job seekers in spite and sheer laziness, WHY THE HELL DID THESE SPITEFUL PEOPLE NOT GIVE ME THE CHANCE THAT MY SUPERVISOR DID, any comment good or bad would be appreciated skiff. Thanks for ya time :)

I know How it fills to not get the benefits, The last time this happened me I was forced to go shoplifting to get food to stay alive. The Job Centre staff tell lies, most of them do not even know how to give support. They never give you all the information that you really need, for instance, did you know that if you are on JSA you can get half price travel on local buses, the job centre is spose to give everyone the form called The Travel Aid Pass but for some reason they don't.

Attack the poor make way for the rich final solution

My mate has his JSA money stopped because he refused to go to a job interview. He had applied for the job, but later found out it was just selling stuff over the telephone. Crap basically.

I WOULD COMMIT A CRIME GET ARRESTED GO TO PRISON. THEN I WOULD BE FED AND SHELTERED! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE!

ARE YOU HEARING US GOVERNMENT, THINGS WILL JUST GET WORSE YOU KEEP THIS UPP! I DONT CARE NOW WHO GETS IN MY WAY! I WAS A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN BEFORE THEY DONE THIS TO ME,NOW PEOPLE WILL JUST GET HURT!

The UK 🇬🇧 System is Failing the British People Hardworking People Cannot Afford to Feed Themselves and Their Families it’s a Disgrace

The fact that we refuse to work for benefits protects your job. Unscrupulous employers will think, why pay you when we can get someone to do this for benefits. Moral employers will find it hard to compete with the less ethical ones, and they will do the same in order to survive. What your really promoting is slavery. You may reply slaves are unpaid. Really? How much does it cost to keep a slave alive?

I was sanctioned for 4 weeks. The reason was I slept in for an appointment that had been made by my advisor. The appointment was to use the computer room to reset my password for my universal jobmatch (i forgot the password), I could've reset this at home but no I had to attend. The night b4 I never got to sleep until 4am (loud music from neighbour) and I never even heard my alarm go off. I phoned right away to tell them etc. Day b4 JSA due in bank, I got told I'd been sanctioned!!!

the thing to do is to do what the goverment would do, take out huge loans and refuse to pay them back, after all due to fractional reserve banking, loans are techically invalid so you legally can get away with not paying, do your research people get some real free cash.

Everything is worse now in February 2019. Universal credit is being used in some areas now. I watched this video years ago. Who could have thought it would be worse in years to come ?

I got sanctioned because I didn't attend a course. I done the course 3 months earlier and got the qualification/certificate but was expected to do it again.

Make sure that you all go and vote in the next election, no votes for the Tories or Lib Dems.

I had my jsa and housing benefit stopped a few days ago for missing an appointment. I applied for rapid reclaim and a text arrived last night, 4 hours after my new appointment time. I am trying to phone the DWP but all i get is 'please try later' or an endless ringtone. Disgusting.

we are getting just like USA.

I call the current situation denial. We are in a recession. No jobs and unfortunately there is not a prospect to get it fixed. As long as the job centres reduce unemployment rates by penalising people and kick them out from there pool of job seekers.

THANKS FOR UPLOADING THIS VIDEO ! ALL THE BEST !!

Spin it however they like, the victims are NOT to blame.

Tragic

To withdraw the livlihood from British citizens, is a human rights violation-where are are British Judges-on holiday again..

allso this year my doctors..specialists..care workers are now run by a private health company...they have abolished duty of care.honest.me and very poor sick persons like i are now no longer needed to fully looked after . honest. iam haveing trouble with them right now. one so called doctor told me she dont eaven care abought my problems and slamed the phone down.she evan stated that i had thretened her and two other doctors with violence...

cant any decent lawyers please help these poor people that have there money stopped take the dwp to court all its needs is one case to be won they will stop

It's you who needs to do the maths. If you think 100billion is given to the unemployed you know absolutely nothing. The actual unemployment benefit and support bill for 2012/13 is £3.463 billion.You don't need to be Einstein to see that's way short of your 100billion dont you think?Incapacity benefit is £2.591bill,Widows/bereavement pensions is £0.571bill, Maternity/guardians allowance is £0.373bill,Retirement pensions[inc Christmas bonus] is £79.321bill,Admin costs and transfers is £4.693bill.

Very very sorry and terribly sad to be pushed to certain levels by society horrible and for what outrageous disgraceful where has Great Britain gone?