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The number of sanctions imposed on jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants rose to 227,629 in the last three months of 2013, an increase of 69,600 on the equivalent quarter in 2012.
In total, 870,793 claimants were subject to an adverse decision to lose their benefit in 2013 because of a failure to meet Jobcentre Plus requirements to make themselves available for work.
In October alone, there were 88,489 adverse decisions, a record number of sanctions for a single month since the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started compiling the figures.
The figures released on Wednesday alongside the labour market statistics also show that an additional 530,957 JSA claimants were referred for a sanction in 2013, but the adjudicator rejected the proposed sanction. A further 95,400 decisions were reserved and nearly 500,000 referrals were cancelled.
Across Britain between October 2012 and December 2013 just over 1 million people have been subject to an adverse sanction, 633,000 were allowed to keep their benefit after a referral and 580,273 had a referral cancelled. The DWP introduced a more demanding claimant commitment regime in October 2012.
Ministers argue it is vital they do not repeat the mistakes of the 1980s recession when hundreds of thousands were allowed to stay on incapacity benefit without any serious effort to keep them close to the labour market.
Critics claim the regime is punitive and that in effect some jobcentres are given targets to sanction a proportion of claimants. Jobcentre managers acknowledge they have management information on the proportion of claimants who are being sanctioned, and questions can be raised if a jobcentre is out of line with other jobcentres. They insist there are no targets.
Between October 2012 and December 2013 the number of lower-level adverse decisions for JSA claimants were 550,033, a further 388,324 were intermediate and just under 90,000 were the most serious sanctions. A first offence for a lower-level sanction can lead to loss of benefit for a month. A second failure at this level of offence leads to loss of benefit for 13 weeks.
The bulk of those subject to intermediate sanctions were found not to be actively seeking work, and those subject to a low-level sanction were found to be failing to participate in the government work programme.
Since the new regime was introduced, more than 120,000 of those JSA claimants subject to an adverse decision were classified as disabled.
The number of employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants subject to adverse decisions is also steadily rising, albeit at much lower levels. The number of ESA claimants subject to a sanction in December 2013 was 4,879, mainly because of a failure to attend an interview.
The DWP work services director, Neil Couling, told the Scottish parliament welfare select committee in April that: "My experience is that many benefit recipients welcome the jolt that a sanction can give them. Indeed, I have evidence – which I can share with the committee if members want it – of some very positive outcomes from just those kinds of tough conversations. They are tough conversations to have on the jobcentre side, as well as for the claimants.
"Some people no doubt react very badly to being sanctioned – we see some very strong reactions – but others recognise that it is the wake-up call that they needed, and it helps them get back into work."
He said the essence of the DWP approach is managing to encourage, support and move people through the different attitudinal groups into the determined seekers' group.
He conceded the numbers being sanctioned had risen but said it was too early to say if this was a trend. He argued that any rise in sanctions may be because of a rise in the numbers of times the unemployed can be called to a jobcentre. He said: "The chances of having a sanction in the course of interaction with the state organisation are going up, so there might well be an increase in the numbers. However, that is not an outcome that we are driving towards."
Couling also said the rise in use of food banks was because of an increase in supply rather than an increase in demand due to the rise in sanctions. He said: "If somebody is sanctioned, they will have no benefit income for the period of the sanction unless they claim for hardship, so those individuals will present to food banks. In fact, there have been sanctions in the benefits system since it started."
A DWP spokesman said: "Our frontline staff work hard to support people off benefits and into employment, and it's only right that we ask claimants to do everything they can to look for work in return. We've just seen the largest rise in employment for over 40 years, unemployment is falling, and there are over 600,000 vacancies.
"People who are in a job know that if they don't play by the rules or fail to turn up in the morning, there might be consequences, so it's only right that people on benefits should have similar responsibilities. However, sanctions are used as a last resort." It added In each month sanctions make up less than 6% of the claims to Jobseeker's Allowance
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