SOCIAL security staff union PCS demanded a full independent inquiry into Britain’s cruel benefit sanctions yesterday as new evidence emerged of the system’s role in massaging down jobless figures.

General secretary Mark Serwotka used a Commons appearance to urge an investigation into the growing scandal which has seen benefits decision-makers handed “astonishing” targets to strip payouts in 80 per cent of cases referred by jobcentres.

Sanctions for breaches such as missing an interview or appointment have been applied more than a million times since October 2012, leaving thousands penniless.