The available information is in the following table.
Number of customers sanctioned 2000-01 23,040 2001-02 32,250 2002-03 36,002 2003-04 24,610 2004-05 19,580 2005-06 12,270 2006-07 6,370 Note: Information prior to 2000 is not available. Source: DWP: JSA Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database
During the period in question, the decline in decisions to apply sanctions for refusing employment coincides with an increase in decisions to apply sanctions to those who have either not done enough to find work or who are unreasonably restricting their availability for work.