One Jobcentre responsible for 9,000 benefit sanctions

● Wellgate centre responsible for 5% of Scots sanctions

A single Job centre in Dundee is responsible for halting benefits to one in 20 of all the claimant sin Scotland who have been “sanctioned”.

The centre has issued 8,999 so-called“sanctions” since 2012. The figure is 2,300 more than the second- highest on the list, a Jobcentre in Aberdeen.

Campaigners are demanding to know why the Jobcentre Plus, in the Wellgate Shopping Centre, is responsible for so many sanctions.

They say the figures – 5 per cent of all sanctions imposed in the whole of Scotland – are “disturbing” and said stopping or cutting benefits risked plunging vulnerable people into crisis.

The number of sanctions has been falling year on year – with 382 handed out by the Wellgate Jobcentre in the last year.

The Department for Work and Pensions said sanctions were used in only a small percentage of cases.

However, Mary Kinn in-month, director of Dundee Citizens Advice Bureau, said: “Sanctions have the potential to take someone who is just about getting by and topple them over the edge into homelessness and foodbank use – they must always beth every last resort.

“These decisions have the power to put people immediately into crisis and we need to know whether these sanctions are handed out by regional interpretation or whether there is some kind of pattern to explain these figures for Dundee.”

Scottish Labour’ s social security spokesman Mark Griffin MSP said: “The Tor y government’s callous welfare reforms have hurt the poorest in society–and SNP austerity is only making that worse. This Dickensian approach to welfare must end.”

The number of sanctions issued in branches across Scotland has declined in recent years but campaigners say the most vulnerable people are still seeking out the support of charities.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said the Well gate office remained one of the largest in Scotland and the number of sanctions handed out was a reflection of this.

She added :“Sanctions are only used in a very small percentage of cases when people fail to meet their agreed commitments in return for benefits. It’s only fair to ask claimants to do their part, and there is a well- established system of payments available for peo - ple who need support to meet their immediate and most essential needs.”