More than 400,000 people have lost Jobseeker's Allowance under new government sanctions aimed at ensuring they actively seek work.

Some 580,000 sanctions were handed down between October 2012 and June 2013, a 6% rise on the same period a year earlier, before rules were toughened. Reasons for withdrawal of the benefit range from leaving a job voluntarily to failing to attend an interview. The government said the sanctions were used as a deterrent. The latest figures have been published by the Department for Work and Pensions.The new sanctions were introduced on 22 October 2012. If a comparison is made between November 2012 and June 2013 and the same period a year earlier, then there was an 11% rise in sanctions....Read more here