This page has been archived.
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to By ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to By ethnicity and area section
- 5. Navigate to By ethnicity and age group section
- 6. Navigate to By ethnicity over time section
- 7. Navigate toData sources section
- 8. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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from October 2013 to December 2016, the percentage of claimants receiving sanctions fell, both for those in the White ethnic group and those in other ethnic groups combined
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in December 2016, the percentage of claimants sanctioned from ethnic minorities other than White ethnic minorities (1.7%) was slightly greater than the percentage of White claimants sanctioned (1.5%)
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older claimants were less likely to be sanctioned than younger claimants
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claimants of Mixed ethnicity were more likely to be sanctioned than claimants from any other ethnic group, but this group also has the highest percentage of claimants aged 18 to 24 (a group more likely to receive sanctions regardless of ethnicity) and the lowest percentage of people aged 50 and over (the age group least likely to be sanctioned)
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the number and percentage of decisions to sanction people receiving work-related Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).
A sanction is when someone claiming JSA has their benefit reduced if they don’t do something they’re asked to do by their Jobcentre adviser without good reason, for example, if they don’t accept or keep to their agreement to look for work.
Read more about JSA sanctions
Not included in the data
The data does not include sanction decisions that were successfully appealed.
Data is suppressed (not shown) if the number of sanction decisions for a particular ethnic group is too small to make reliable generalisations.
How sanction rates are calculated
Percentages are worked out monthly. The percentage of decisions to sanction is the average number of decisions each month divided by the number of people claiming JSA on the second Thursday of the month.
The ethnic groups used in the data
To allow reliable generalisations to be made, data is shown for 4 aggregated groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Mixed
- Other
Data is also shown for 2 White ethnic groups:
- White British
- White Other
For data analysed by ethnicity and another factor (such as age group), the data is shown for 2 ethnic groups:
- White (White British and White ethnic minorities)
- Other (all other ethnic minorities)
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data used on this page.
The data counts the number of decisions to sanction, not how many people were sanctioned. Because someone can have more than one sanction in a month, differences between ethnic groups could be due to:
- more people in a particular group receiving sanctions
- people in that group receiving multiple sanctions
In the data file
You can download the data for the numbers of people who didn’t report their ethnicity.
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Number of sanctions |
|---|---|---|
| All | 1.6 | 7,420 |
| Asian | 1.6 | 489 |
| Black | 1.8 | 744 |
| Mixed | 2.0 | 206 |
| White British | 1.5 | 5,064 |
| White Other | 1.3 | 261 |
| Other | 1.7 | 226 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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the Mixed ethnic group had the highest percentage of claimants sanctioned (2%)
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the percentage of claimants sanctioned in the White ethnic groups was lower than in all other ethnic groups
4. By ethnicity and area
| Area | All | Asian | Black | Mixed | White British | White Other | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| East Midlands | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| East of England | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 2.1 |
| London | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 1.8 |
| North East | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 2.4 |
| North West | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| Scotland | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.7 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.3 |
| South East | 1.7 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| South West | 1.4 | withheld to protect confidentiality | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 |
| Wales | 1.4 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 1.9 | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| West Midlands | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.5 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions By ethnicity and area Summary
This data shows that:
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Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants in Yorkshire and The Humber were more likely to be sanctioned than claimants in other areas
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Mixed ethnic claimants from the North East had the highest percentage of sanctions, at 3.2%
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Other White and Asian claimants living in the West Midlands were the least likely to be sanctioned, at 0.8%
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the South East, Wales, Yorkshire and the East Midlands were the only areas where Mixed ethnic claimants were not the most likely to be sanctioned
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there were no areas where White British or Other White claimants were the most likely to be sanctioned
5. By ethnicity and age group
| Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-49 | Aged 50+ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnic group | Aged 18-24 % | Aged 18-24 Number of sanctions | Aged 25-49 % | Aged 25-49 Number of sanctions | Aged 50+ % | Aged 50+ Number of sanctions |
| All | 3.9 | 2,057 | 1.5 | 4,119 | 0.8 | 1,224 |
| Asian | 3.6 | 105 | 1.5 | 291 | 1.1 | 97 |
| Black | 4.7 | 181 | 1.8 | 453 | 0.9 | 111 |
| Mixed | 4.6 | 78 | 1.5 | 104 | 0.9 | 16 |
| White British | 3.9 | 1,495 | 1.5 | 2,707 | 0.8 | 856 |
| White Other | 3.4 | 56 | 1.4 | 169 | 0.6 | 32 |
| Other | 2.9 | 49 | 1.8 | 165 | 0.6 | 16 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)
Summary of Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions By ethnicity and age group Summary
This data shows that:
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younger claimants received more sanctions than older people
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3.9% of White British claimants aged 18 to 24 received sanctions, compared with 1.5% of claimants from the same ethnic group aged 25 to 49, and 0.8% aged 50 or over
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the highest percentage of sanctions in the 18 to 24 age group was 4.7%, for Black claimants (compared with 3.9% overall)
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the highest percentage of sanctions in the 25 to 49 age group was 1.8%, for both Black claimants and those from the Other ethnic group (compared with 1.5% overall)
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Asian claimants aged 50 and over were most likely to be sanctioned in that age group (1.1% compared to 0.8% overall)
6. By ethnicity over time
| White | Other | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | White % | White Number of sanctions | Other % | Other Number of sanctions |
| Nov-12 | 4.8 | 54,718 | 5.9 | 14,336 |
| Dec-12 | 3.8 | 42,704 | 4.7 | 11,313 |
| Jan-13 | 4.6 | 55,098 | 6.0 | 14,405 |
| Feb-13 | 3.9 | 47,780 | 5.1 | 12,456 |
| Mar-13 | 4.3 | 51,042 | 5.4 | 13,143 |
| Apr-13 | 5.1 | 58,544 | 5.9 | 14,177 |
| May-13 | 5.4 | 60,642 | 6.1 | 14,536 |
| Jun-13 | 5.1 | 54,018 | 5.6 | 13,090 |
| Jul-13 | 6.3 | 66,359 | 6.9 | 15,966 |
| Aug-13 | 6.0 | 61,302 | 6.4 | 14,680 |
| Sep-13 | 6.2 | 60,025 | 6.7 | 14,768 |
| Oct-13 | 7.4 | 68,423 | 8.3 | 17,277 |
| Nov-13 | 6.1 | 54,841 | 6.8 | 13,558 |
| Dec-13 | 4.8 | 42,146 | 5.3 | 10,357 |
| Jan-14 | 5.8 | 53,223 | 6.5 | 12,676 |
| Feb-14 | 5.1 | 47,397 | 5.9 | 11,560 |
| Mar-14 | 5.3 | 46,702 | 6.0 | 11,402 |
| Apr-14 | 4.9 | 40,871 | 5.8 | 10,704 |
| May-14 | 4.9 | 38,725 | 5.4 | 9,693 |
| Jun-14 | 5.3 | 39,425 | 6.0 | 10,284 |
| Jul-14 | 5.3 | 38,296 | 6.1 | 10,470 |
| Aug-14 | 4.7 | 32,081 | 5.4 | 9,039 |
| Sep-14 | 4.9 | 31,969 | 5.4 | 8,654 |
| Oct-14 | 4.5 | 28,695 | 5.0 | 7,719 |
| Nov-14 | 4.3 | 26,264 | 4.8 | 7,007 |
| Dec-14 | 3.7 | 21,681 | 3.9 | 5,538 |
| Jan-15 | 4.0 | 24,780 | 4.3 | 6,125 |
| Feb-15 | 3.8 | 23,669 | 4.1 | 5,966 |
| Mar-15 | 4.1 | 24,210 | 4.4 | 6,286 |
| Apr-15 | 3.3 | 18,942 | 3.4 | 4,700 |
| May-15 | 3.0 | 16,043 | 3.0 | 4,013 |
| Jun-15 | 3.3 | 17,198 | 3.4 | 4,450 |
| Jul-15 | 3.0 | 15,308 | 3.1 | 4,063 |
| Aug-15 | 2.7 | 13,372 | 2.9 | 3,821 |
| Sep-15 | 2.6 | 12,675 | 2.8 | 3,639 |
| Oct-15 | 2.7 | 12,861 | 2.9 | 3,608 |
| Nov-15 | 2.6 | 11,721 | 2.8 | 3,294 |
| Dec-15 | 2.2 | 9,918 | 2.5 | 2,879 |
| Jan-16 | 2.1 | 9,974 | 2.4 | 2,894 |
| Feb-16 | 2.2 | 10,434 | 2.3 | 2,851 |
| Mar-16 | 2.3 | 10,475 | 2.4 | 2,859 |
| Apr-16 | 2.2 | 9,408 | 2.2 | 2,653 |
| May-16 | 2.0 | 8,577 | 2.1 | 2,446 |
| Jun-16 | 2.0 | 7,941 | 2.2 | 2,477 |
| Jul-16 | 1.7 | 6,735 | 1.8 | 1,961 |
| Aug-16 | 1.7 | 6,564 | 1.8 | 1,965 |
| Sep-16 | 1.6 | 5,966 | 1.7 | 1,783 |
| Oct-16 | 1.5 | 5,458 | 1.7 | 1,706 |
| Nov-16 | 1.8 | 6,197 | 2.0 | 1,960 |
| Dec-16 | 1.5 | 5,323 | 1.7 | 1,668 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Jobseeker's Allowance sanctions By ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
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from November 2012 to December 2016, claimants from ethnic minorities (except White ethnic minorities) were generally more likely to be sanctioned than White claimants
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since October 2013, the percentage of claimants receiving sanctions has fallen for all ethnic groups
7. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Experimental statistics
Publisher
Department for Work and Pensions
Note on corrections or updates
The figures on this page may not match other published data as figures can be changed after being published (for example, if an appeal is successful).
Publication frequency
Quarterly
Purpose of data source
The figures for the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and the number of decisions to stop benefit (‘sanctions’) are administrative data used to produce official and experimental statistics.
8. Download the data
Region, month, ethnic group, numerator, denominator