The first sign of the impact of a tougher benefit sanctions regime has emerged with the publication of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics showing that nearly 600,000 jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants have had adverse benefit sanctions taken against them in the eight months to June.

According to the DWP, there were 553,000 sanctions between November 2012 (the first full month of the new regime) and June 2013, compared with 499,000 from November 2011 to June 2012.

Esther McVey, the work minister, claimed that those people getting their benefits docked for missing job centre appointments were deliberately avoiding finding a job.

She said: "Sanctions are used as a deterrent. The vast, vast majority of people don't get sanctions. When you get jobseeker's allowance - there's a clue there in the name, jobseeker's allowance – you are paid that to make sure you are doing all you can do to get a job. We put things in place, you've got your adviser there working closely with you and it is for your best interests to get a job and we do all we can do.

"The people who get sanctions are wilfully rejecting support for no good reason and if there were a reason … there is something known as 'good cause', so if that seemed true and genuine you'd have good cause there to not have a sanction, plus there is a process in place just to ensure we are getting it right."

The figures suggest there are likely to be just under 100,000 more claimants sanctioned annually under the new regime. They will also face longer period of sanctions.

The statistics show 1.3m sanctions decisions on JSA claimants since the new, tougher regime started in late October last year. Five hundred and eighty thousand were classified as adverse leading to a sanction, 387,000 were non-adverse, and 378,000 were reserved or cancelled. Of the adverse decisions, 223,000 led to the loss of the allowance for four weeks for a first offence and 48,000 lost JSA for 13 weeks.

Since 2000, there have been a total of 5.5m adverse sanctions decisions.

McVey insisted sanctions were only applied in the most serious cases. She said: "You have to not have turned up, not have taken a job, rejected jobs, not turned up for an interview, walked out of a job … there are serious things to get the highest sanctions – 0.05%. We'll do everything to stop you having a sanction."

The statistics also show to June 2013 there have been 45,000 sanction decisions against employment support allowance (ESA) claimants since the new sanction regime was introduced in December 2012. Just over 11,000 were adverse decisions. ESA replaced incapacity benefit and goes largely to sick and disabled people.

The statistics show an increase in the number of people being sanctioned each month, but the number of the most severe sanctions (refusing employment, leaving employment voluntarily or losing employment through misconduct) has fallen – almost halving compared with last year.

There have been repeated claims that jobcentre staff are given weekly or monthly targets for the number of benefits sanction decisions they need to take. The DWP denied this, describing the numbers as management information but not a target.

Thirty-six per cent of adverse JSA decisions since October were due to a failure to actively seek work, 30% due to a failure to participate in the work programme, and 20% due to a failure to attend an advisory interview.