Statistics released by the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) reveal that officials at Helensburgh’s Jobcentre Plus office took the decision to sanction benefits claimants more than 200 times between the period from July 2013 and June last year.

A further breakdown of those figures during that time shows that sanctions decisions at the Charlotte Street office hit double figures on every month of the year, reaching into dozens during some months.

In the overwhelming majority of cases claimants who faced the sanction decisions were aged 18-to-29 years old.

However, the annual total does show a significant reduction of around a quarter on the preceding year. The number of sanction decisions was down year-on-year to 203 from the previous total of 273.

However, that number is still some way above the total of 137 just two years previously.

The drop in the number of incidences where sanction decisions are taken has been welcomed by Ellen Morton, depute leader of Argyll and Bute Council.

She said: “I obviously welcome the reduction this year in the number of people who have had sanctions imposed by DWP.

“Clearly any benefits system has to have sanctions in place to ensure that individuals comply with the conditions around their grant of state benefits but there also needs to be support in place to ensure that people are protected from hardship.” Many of those facing added hardship that the sanctions bring are forced to go cap in hand to foodbanks or friends and family.

The Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank, which opened at the start of November, has been documenting reasons given by those who visit the project. According to its stats, 26 per cent of their clients turned to them for help because of DWP sanctions, with another 23 per cent forced to turn to them when benefits payments were delayed.

Councillor Morton was keen to point out that other help is available – albeit limited.

She added: “The council has a welfare rights team in place to help people appeal any loss of benefit and we offer a range of support services in this situation. If an individual loses some benefits and gets into difficulties then we also offer crisis grants which can be helpful on a temporary basis.” The statistics for Helensburgh also reveal that men were five times more likely to be sanctioned than women.

With 169 of the sanction decisions taken against males, females accounted for just 33 over the 12-month period. There were no sanction decisions taken against females in seven of the 12 months, however the number of males facing sanctions was into double figures in every month bar one.

The statistics were in keeping with year-on-year figures for the previous 12-month period from 2012 to 2013 which also showed men being more than five times as likely to face sanctions.

A DWP spokesperson said: “Sanctions are a necessary part of the benefits system, but they are used as a last resort in a tiny percentage of cases where people don’t play by the rules.

“There are no targets for sanctions and there were fewer sanctions this year compared to last year.

“We have a well-established system of hardship payments for benefit claimants who have little or no other resources available to them.”