People looking for work have had their benefits stopped to meet government targets, the PCS union claims.

The union, which represents many job centre staff, said they had been under "enormous pressure" to stop claimants' Jobseeker's Allowance.

Some claimants said they had benefits withdrawn for "genuine mistakes" such as missing appointments.

The government says sanctions are a "last resort", and strongly denies the union's claim.

"Job centre staff are under enormous pressure to implement sanctions on unemployed people," PCS union north-east regional secretary Simon Elliot said.

"Staff are faced with the threat of sanctions themselves in the form of what they call performance improvement plans if they don't impose sanctions.

"If you look at the guidance for implementing the performance improvement plans it clearly states that it's a measure against targets."