Benefits have been stripped from the Bradford area’s “work-shy” jobseekers more than 8,000 times in just eight months, new figures show.

The claimants have been docked jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) – for up to 13 weeks, for a first offence – after the Government launched a crackdown.

Most “sanctions” were applied because claimants missed job centre appointments or deliberately avoided finding a job, ministers said.

Esther McVey, the work minister, hailed the statistics as proof that the department for work and pensions (DWP) was ending the “something for nothing” culture.

But the big leap in the number of people being stripped of benefits has been pinpointed as a key reason for the explosion in the use of food banks.

The Trussell Trust, which runs the food banks, recently urged David Cameron to set up an inquiry into the growing queues for emergency food aid.

And Chris Mould, its executive chairman, said: “We’re talking about mums not eating for days because they have been sanctioned for seemingly illogical reasons.

“It’s not right that so many more people are now being referred to food banks due to problems with welfare, especially as much of this is preventable.”

The statistics cover the first eight months since the introduction of a tougher regime at job centres last October.

Claimants given “high-level sanctions” lose JSA for 13 weeks for a first punishment, 26 weeks for a second and for up to three years for repeat offences.

But most are stripped of the benefit for a period of four weeks, rising to 13 weeks and then one year, if they fail to comply with the rules.

It is impossible to say how many individual claimants were punished in Bradford, because many are sanctioned more than once.

However, the total number of sanctions at the Bradford Eastbrook Court Jobcentre Plus Office was 3,310, with a further 2,590 at Bradford Westfield House.

If the surrounding towns are included, the number of times benefits were docked rises to 8,120.

Action was taken at the jobcentres in Keighley (810 sanctions), Shipley (680), Pudsey (470) and Brighouse (260).

Ms McVey said: “Sanctions are used as a deterrent. The vast, vast majority of people don’t get sanctions.

“We always make the rules very clear. It’s only right that there is a penalty if people fail to play by them.”

In addition, there were a further 5,720 so-called “non-adverse” decisions across the district, over the eight-month period.

Many of those saw benefits withdrawn – only to be restored later after appeals, the DWP admitted Decisions were overturned after the claimant provided reasonable evidence, such as a doctor’s note to prove sickness, to explain why an appointment was missed.