Racial disparities in the application of welfare sanctions in England

Ethnic minority claimants living in rural areas of England are more likely to face sanctions when claiming Jobseeker's Allowance compared to their White counterparts. Academics from Cardiff University used Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) data to analyse the total number of sanction and referral decisions made in each local authority (LA) for different ethnic groups over a period of seven years. Published in the journal, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers , the results reveal specific hotspots where racial disparities are most marked - the majority of which are in rural areas. In Cumbria, Black or Black British claimants are almost three times (2.94) as likely to be referred for a sanction than their white counterparts. They are twice as likely to be sanctioned in the Isle of Wight and Poole, and more than 1.5 times more likely in York, North Yorkshire, East Riding and Cornwall. In Yorkshire and The Humber, claimants with a mixed ethnic background are 1.71 times more likely to be sanctioned in rural areas than their White counterparts, while in urban areas it is 1.47 times more likely. While Black or Black British claimants living in urban parts of the region face an equivalent risk of sanctions as their white counterparts, those living in rural areas are 1.47 times more likely.