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Half A Million Universal Credit Recipients Sanctioned In Last Year



According to the latest DWP statistics that have been released reveal that 522,690 UC claimants have been sanctioned in the previous year to July 2023.

They show that in  July 2023  49,000 new sanctions were applied.

These figures are very concerning with 6.48% of the claimants sanctioned is now almost reaching the peak rate in October 2022.

According to the statistics 96.5% of sanctions were applied for failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview.

However these statistics don’t reveal the claimants reasons for not attending or participating in mandatory interviews.

One of the most common reasons for the above is not receiving any communication from the DWP that would inform them of these appointments. For more information about this please see a previous blog post titled ‘The case of the missing letters’

Other reasons for non attendance include illness, childcare commitments and not being able to physically attend an appointment.

Of course claimants can appeal these decisions but it isn’t easy to do and many still don’t know that they can do this.

It’s also important to know that sanction decisions are made by work coaches and are often based upon opinion not fact.

For example if they explain to their work coach that they couldn’t attend because of illness, the work coach will decide if this is a good enough reason to do so.

Also in the event that an appointment letter hasn’t been received by the claimant the onus is on the DWP to prove that it’s been delivered.

Of course they can’t prove this, indeed I’ve helped in cases when the letters hadn’t been sent in the first place and I actually saw them still in a claimants paperwork.

It’s especially concerning that we are going through a cost of living and energy cost crisis. The prices of everything appear to be rising daily and many essentials are no longer affordable.

The cost of turning heating on is also impossible for many, and as we are heading towards what will be an extremely cold winter being sanctioned is unnecessarily cruel.

Despite the right wing media portraying the amount of Universal Credit is too much in reality payments are already barely enough to survive on.

It’s also vital to know that debts such as council tax debt repayments and suchlike are garnished from UC  payments before they receive them. This leaves claimants with barely enough to buy the very basics needed.

As a result of this an ever increasing amount of people, working and not working are becoming dependent upon food banks. Food banks are also struggling to keep up with the increasing demand because of the cost of living crisis, leaving many that used to donate food unable to do so anymore.

Sanctioning already vulnerable people in the midst of a very serious cost of living crisis and a cold winter is beyond cruel.

Taking away a person’s very means of survival is totally unacceptable, with the ramifications of this lasting a long time, some never recover from it.

We need to start campaigning against sanctioning again because there’s never been a more important time to do so.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Thanks to everyone that reads and shares my blog posts, without you this wouldn’t be possible.

Please share this post because it raises awareness which is much needed at the moment.

9 thoughts on “Half A Million Universal Credit Recipients Sanctioned In Last Year”

  2. How. Can they say sanctions help ppl into work? Who’d want to employ someone who’s hungry , probably dishevelled and in dirty clothes because they can’t afford to wash clothes or heat water to wash? It’s a complete outrage. I don’t even know if I can bring myself to vote next year in election.

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  4. A thoroughly disgusting situation, absolutely outrageous that the government of an ostensibly civilised country can get away with imposing such suffering and actual *terror* upon its citizens. Make no mistake about it, Benefit Sanctions are an atrocity, a means of terrorising the masses, an act of Class War. I campaigned against Sanctions years ago and was both astonished and deeply disappointed by the response I received from Ed Miliband’s Labour party at the time, who told me in an email from Labour HQ that they fully supported the use of Benefit Sanctions, denying that Sanctions caused poverty, and had the brassneck cheek to tell me that Sanctions were a “vital tool in helping people into work”. Needless to say I didn’t vote Labour that year. But we now know better, Academic research exists that shows Sanctions are harmful, counterproductive and ineffective at helping people in to work. Indeed, the DWP’s own Report into Sanctions concurred with studies undertaken by the University of York. I have no idea what Labour’s stance on Sanctions is at the moment but we know damned well what the Tories think, even if they are merely indulging in poor-bashing and “scrounger” kicking to placate their Right wing voters, the angry Daily Mail readers and hate-filled “I pay my Taxes” brigade. The evidence may be on our side but it’s still a Political hot potatoe, no party dare show any support or express sympathy for the heavily marginalised great unwashed.

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