Benefits campaign groups have hit out at the news that Universal Credit sanctions are “back with a vengeance”, as MPs said the number of claimants hit has risen by two and a half times.
A debate on the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP) policy on benefit sanctions last month heard that Jobcentres have been told to “up their game” and increase the number of sanctions they are handing to those receiving out-of-work benefits. And one MP said he had even heard that there was inter-office competition, with DWP offices pushing each other to achieve higher sanction rates.
During the debate, secured by SNP MP Chris Stephens, MPs learned that in the last quarter, the number of sanctions was 250% higher than in the three months before the pandemic, with 2.5% of claimants being sanctioned each month compared to 1.4% prior to 2020. The number of Universal Credit claimants who were serving a sanction in August was 115,274, after a peak of 117,999 in July. That is more than three times the pre-pandemic peak of 36,771 in October 2019, the benefits sanctions debate heard.
