Yet in 2013, the number of sanctions imposed on benefits claimants exceeded the number of fines imposed by magistrates' and sheriffs' courts – more than 1.1m benefits sanctions against about 840,000 court fines.
In fact, the restrictions he wants to impose on benefits for new arrivals from the rest of the EU may be too much to ask of central European countries, all of which have to sign off his demands.
Recent studies investigating the effect of sanctions imposed on unemployment insurance benefit and welfare benefit recipients show that benefit cuts substantially increase employment uptake among the sanctioned persons.
Duncan Smith successfully defended the Chingford and Woodford Green seat in 2005, 2010, and 2015, serving as work and pensions secretary in David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government from 2010 to March 2016, when he resigned that post in protest of the level of cuts to be imposed on disability benefits.
They complained bitterly about a new fee on insurance providers, one of many taxes imposed on companies expected to benefit from the law.
Additionally, he said, a new 12-month limit will be imposed on long-term jobless benefits, and measures will be taken to curb benefit fraud.
As in most EU member states, the system includes a set of sanctions to be imposed on the recipients of benefits with an insufficient attachment to the labor market.
"The SNP and Scottish government ministers have consistently called for a moratorium on all benefit sanctions imposed on those individuals who do not meet the conditions attached to their benefits," he said.
But some of the high cost imposed on doctors and hospitals may benefit insurers, since they lead to delayed payments and denial of claims.
Carers were increasingly bearing the burden of benefit cuts imposed on the people they care for, both financially and in terms of their time.
