§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security in the first two quarters of 1996–97 how many 589W claimants of income support (a) applied for and (b) received hardship payments; and what percentage of all sanctioned claimants received a payment in the categories (i) voluntary unemployment or result of misconduct, (ii) availability for work, (iii) actively seeking work, (iv) refusing employment and (v) refusing or failing to attend project work. [7728]
Quarter ending May 1996 Quarter ending August 1996 Reason Applications Awards Applications Awards Not available for work 2,985 1,432 2,828 1,238 Not actively seeking work 1,702 469 1,415 412 Prior to the introduction of jobseeker's allowance claimants who were refused income support because of voluntary unemployment or misconduct or who refused employment or training did not lose their entitlement to income support but had a voluntary unemployment deduction imposed instead. The information for these individual categories is not available, but the table gives the overall numbers who had a voluntary unemployment deduction imposed.
- May 1996: 25,000
- August 1996: 26,000.