The amount of Universal Credit claimants being sanctioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has soared, increasing by a factor of 11 in the past five months.
The "extremely worrying" rise comes as families across the UK face rising living costs and skyrocketing energy bills this spring — with benefits only rising by 3.1%.
Sanctions — which refer to the reduction or in some cases the complete removal of an individual's benefits — were scrapped during the first covid lockdown.
