Hundreds of assaults on Jobcentre staff have potentially been avoided due to scrapping face to face appointments during the pandemic, according to official statistics.
In 2020/21, when Jobcentre opening times were limited and face to face appointments replaced with virtual ones, there was an 89 percent year-on-year reduction in physical attacks on staff.
There were 27 assaults on Jobcentre staff in 2020/21, according to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
That compares with pre-pandemic figures of 242 assaults in 2019/20 and 257 in 2018/19.
New statistics reveal a dramatic drop in assaults on Jobcentre staff in 2020/21 compared with the pre-pandemic period, likely due to remote working. In one harrowing incident on October 7 2019, Brendan Cole (pictured), 19, stabbed a Jobcentre security guard in the back with a large carving knife at a Jobcentre Plus in Belle Vale, Liverpool
A Jobcentre in Horfield, Bristol, which had 70 windows smashed by a claimant who went on a rampage with a claw hammer after staff told the 53-year-old he would have to travel to Bath to discuss his benefits
One case on October 7 2019 saw a security guard stabbed in the back with a large carving knife while working at a Jobcentre Plus in Belle Vale, Liverpool.
The security guard, a man in his 40s, intervened when a 19-year-old threatened a female member of staff.
Brendan Cole, 19, who was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for the attack, left the security guard with 'a serious but non-life-threatening injury to his back', according to Merseyside Police.
Of the 499 assaults on Jobcentre staff in 2018/19 and 2019/20, 83 resulted in cuts and bruises, while 17 resulted in more serious injuries.
The data come from a MailOnline Freedom of Information request sent to the DWP.
Charlotte Hughes, who volunteers outside Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre and runs a blog called The Poor Side of Life, said: 'Whilst assaults on Jobcentre staff have fallen massively mainly because of online appointments, we can't forget that it's the Universal Credit system that causes their frustration.
