A warning has been issued to Universal Credit claimants after more than half a million people had their benefits cut due to sanctions in the past year.
According to latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, 541,000 people were given a sanction between February 2022 and January 2023. In the overwhelming majority of cases, 97% (just over 530,000) lost some or all of their benefits for failing to attend a mandatory interview with a work coach at the jobcentre.
The rest were penalised for not being available for work (4,330), not going on employment programmes (4,000), quitting a job without a good explanation (2,410), or other reasons (520). The DWP said in its report: "If you do not meet one or more conditions of your benefit claim without good reason, your benefit could be stopped or reduced.
