Guidance

Universal Credit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology

Updated 13 February 2024

About the statistics

The statistics allow people to see how many sanction decisions have been made in relation to Universal Credit (live and full service).

They are published in the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) collection of benefit sanctions statistics (BSS):

• from November 2017 for live service
• from May 2019 for full service

The statistics are released every quarter in February, May, August and November.

Previously, live service statistics were published within the quarterly statistical summary (QSS) until August 2017.

The underlying data for live service statistics is available through Stat-Xplore.

Benefit sanctions statistics to April 2020 (official statistics in development) and beyond cover the time period after March 2020 and include data for sanction decisions during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Due to legislative changes to disapply work-search and work availability requirements between 30 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 (in response to the pandemic), comparisons during the coronavirus pandemic should not be made to other times.

At the beginning of the pandemic, conditionality was paused for UC claimants and face to face appointments were suspended, to enable the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to focus on processing the unprecedented volume of new claims. While DWP reintroduced conditionality in July 2020, face to face appointments were gradually reintroduced from April 2021 for all claimants. As the return to face-to-face appointments was a gradual process and claimants were only subject to sanction when they failed to meet a mandatory requirement, there is a delay between the start of the return to face to face appointments in April 2021 and the increase in the UC sanction rate in June 2021.

Conditionality was reintroduced from 1 July 2020 on a phased approach and as capacity allowed.

Context of the statistics

Sanctions statistics comprise 4 benefits:

• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income Support (IS)
• Universal Credit (UC)

This document focuses purely on Universal Credit. Read the methodology for the JSA, ESA and IS statistics.

To claim Universal Credit, a Work Coach will set out with the claimant what is required of them in the Claimant Commitment. If they fail to meet each of their responsibilities that they agreed in their Claimant Commitment without good reason, they may be subject to a sanction, where their UC standard allowance is reduced for a set period.

The length of the sanction depends on the level category that the reason for the sanction falls into (see Table 3) and the number of previous failures within the year.

There are 4 sanction levels in UC:

1. Lowest level

Failure to attend or take part in a Work-Focused Interview. The sanction lasts until the claimant attends or takes part in one, or moves to either the Working – no requirements or No Work Requirements conditionality regimes.

2. Low level

The sanction lasts until the claimant does what they previously failed to do and were sanctioned for (for example, failing to attend a training course) or because either the requirement is no longer appropriate or an alternative compliance condition has been met, plus 7, 14 or 28 days for the first, second or third low level sanction in any 12-month period.

3. Medium level

The sanction lasts 28 days for the first sanction in any 12 month period, and 91 days (approximately 3 months) for a second medium level sanction. Medium level sanctions apply, for example, where the claimant has to meet the work availability requirement, but has failed to be available to attend an interview or start work.

4. High level

The sanction lasts for 91 days (approximately 3 months) for the first sanction in any 12-month period and 182 days (approximately 6 months) for a second high level sanction. High level sanctions apply, for example, where a claimant refuses the offer of a job.

The length of the sanction will be less than that stated above if the claimant is under the age of 18 at the point of the sanctionable failure.

For Universal Credit, the Decision Making Process follows 4 stages:

1. Referral

Work Coach in a Jobcentre, or Employment Scheme provider, identifies that the claimant has failed, in some way, to meet the requirements placed upon them. The benefit will remain in payment until the Decision Maker makes an adverse decision. The Work Coach will gather information to support the referral from the claimant and, where applicable, the reasons for their failure, to enable a quality decision to be made. The case is then referred to the Decision Maker. If the referral is from an employment scheme provider, the Decision Maker will gather this information from the claimant.

2. Original decision

The Decision Maker will weigh up all of the information and evidence presented to them, including the claimant’s reasons for failing to meet the requirements placed upon them. They will then make a decision. If the decision is to apply a sanction (adverse decision), the claimant is notified of the outcome in writing.

3. Mandatory Reconsideration (MR)

If a claimant disagrees with a decision made about their benefit, they can ask the department to look at it again. A Mandatory Reconsideration must be undertaken before the claimant can appeal. There are strict time limits for asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration. The claimant must ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration within one month of the date on their decision letter, however, they can apply outside of this period if they show good reason for the delay, or have this period extended by 14 days if they receive a written statement of reasons.

If the DWP changes its original decision (non-adverse MR decision), any arrears of benefit due are paid less any hardship payments. Once the MR has been undertaken, the claimant will receive two copies of a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice (MRN). The MRN tells the claimant the outcome of the reconsideration and what to do if they wish to appeal.

4. Appeal

If the department does not change the decision at Mandatory Reconsideration, the claimant can appeal directly to an independent tribunal.

A major difference between sanctions policy for UC compared to JSA is that under UC, where a claimant fails to attend a Work Coach meeting, they can be sanctioned. Under JSA claimants would receive a sanction, or have their claim terminated if they did not make contact within 5 working days of their failure. This is not appropriate for UC as claimants may be in receipt of other parts of UC, such as housing and child care, which would not be subject to a sanction and so they would remain on benefit.

The amount deducted is calculated daily as a percentage of the standard allowance and is dependent on the claimant’s current personal circumstances and conditionality regime.

Table 1: Percentage deducted

Claimant	Deduction (%)
Single claimant in either the Searching for Work, Working – with requirements, Working No Requirements[footnote 1] or Preparing for work Conditionality Regime	100%
Claimant in a couple in either the Searching for Work, Working – with requirements, Working No Requirements or Preparing for work Conditionality Regime	50%
Single claimant in the Planning for Work regime or in No Work requirements regime on the grounds of childcare responsibilities, adoption or pregnancy	40%
Claimant in a couple in the Planning for Work regime or in No Work requirements regime on the grounds of childcare responsibilities, adoption or pregnancy	20%
Claimant in No Work requirements regime with limited capability for work related activities	0%

When a sanction is imposed on a UC claim and the sanctioned claimant or couple have had their standard allowance reduced at the daily rate equal to 100% – or 50% for a couple – for a high, medium or low level sanction, hardship payments may be available for claimants.

These payments are equivalent to about 60% of the UC standard allowance and have to be paid back under UC.

For UC claimants, a hardship payment is only available following the first reduced payment and where the claimant complies with all requirements placed on them. They are available to any claimant who can demonstrate that they would suffer financial hardship if the benefit were not paid. Claimants are expected to apply for a hardship payment for every assessment period where a sanction has been applied.

In response to feedback from the users of sanction statistics, and to improve public understanding of them, the sanctions statistics publication strategy was published by the DWP on 19 April 2016, where changes were proposed to the publication of sanction statistics.

One of these changes was to include Income Support and Universal Credit sanctions statistics in the publication alongside JSA and ESA. This was achieved as of May 2017.

These statistics covered Universal Credit live service only until May 2019.

In May 2019, full service statistics were added to the BSS publication which covers a wider range of claimant types. Roll out of Universal Credit full service to over 700 Jobcentre Plus offices was completed in December 2018, and migration of “legacy” claimants will continue until 2024.

Whilst all Jobcentre Plus Offices have rolled out to full service, meaning that no new claimants will join live service, some claimants remain on the live service system. As of March 2019, less than 1% of the Universal Credit caseload was on live service.

Sanctions figures for live service are shown from August 2015 onwards, this being the earliest date from which we can assure the quality of the data and allow for additional functionality on the UC system to be captured.

Figures for full service adverse decisions are shown from May 2016 onwards, as this was the date from which roll out began to expand to areas of the country other than the initial trial areas (Sutton, Southwark, Croydon, Hounslow and Musselburgh).

At present, we do not have data on non-adverse, reserved or cancelled decisions for full service.

The following updates have been made to the UC full service sanction decisions statistics since they were initially released in May 2020:

1. From November 2019, Northern Ireland sanction decisions were removed from the statistics, as were sanctions given in error. All adverse sanction decisions remain in our full service data source, even when they are deleted from the front end system. This means that prior to November 2019, sanctions added in error and then subsequently removed were included in the count of adverse decisions. We have now changed our methodology, allowing us to remove these decisions, and improving the accuracy of our statistics.

2. In February 2020, we added demographic breakdowns relating to age, gender, and regional group for adverse decisions on full service. In addition, a measure to determine the number of claimants receiving multiple adverse decisions in the past year was added.

3. In February 2020, it was identified that previously published ‘all sanction decisions’ statistics for UC full service were missing some data as a result of how information is recorded. While the data on the number of adverse sanctions given is correct and the sanction rate is correct, some other sanction related decisions have been undercounted (i.e. where a sanction was not given). We removed the ‘all sanction decisions’ measures from our upcoming publications and from the previously published documents from May 2019, August 2019, and November 2019.

4. While implementing a methodological improvement in May 2020, it was identified that previously published ‘adverse sanction decisions’ statistics for UC full service had been undercounted since November 2019. We previously calculated UC full service adverse decisions by selecting cases where the decision date fell within the period a service centre was active, but found that some valid adverse decisions were missed because they occurred outside of this date range. The new methodology counts all adverse sanction decisions.

In August 2017, a monthly rate of UC claimants who receive a deduction as a result of a sanction was published alongside information on the duration of these deductions in the quarterly statistical summary, then in the benefit sanctions statistics publication from November 2017. Further information on these measures can be found in the background and methodology document.

Due to increasing demand from users, DWP are making improvements to published geography information in their National and Official statistics releases, including data released via Stat-Xplore. The changes have been implemented in the benefit sanctions statistics publication as of February 2018, and involve:

• Replacing all 2001 Census Output Area (COA) based geography information with more up to date geographies based on 2011 COAs
• Replacing the historic time series geographies so that they are based on 2011 COAs
• Assigning geographies using an improved methodology, which involves using more reliable data to source address information

New claims to Universal Credit live service ceased in January 2018, and since then the remaining live service cases have been gradually migrated to Universal Credit full service. This has resulted in a gradual decrease in the number of live service sanction decisions.

At the end of March 2019, the systems that were used to administer live service cases were shut down. Due to this, data for any original Universal Credit live service sanction decisions has been frozen from this point. Users should be mindful that this is also evident in the combined Universal Credit live and full service sanctions durations and rate data, and caution should be taken when comparing data before and after 1st April 2019.

Work is currently underway to develop more data for Universal Credit full service, and the aim is to release this as and when it is available.

Purpose of the statistics

The purpose of the statistics is to inform and present data on the number of decisions made to apply a sanction to those on Universal Credit and the outcomes of the sanction process.

Purpose within DWP

The information in the publication and underlying datasets are used to:

• evaluate, develop and support policy, strategy and operational decisions, initiatives/options and business plans
• answer Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information requests
• inform Departmental Responses to Commons Select Committees
• inform press office statements
• provide briefing lines including for devolved administrations

By:

• policy, strategy, operational support and associated analytical teams
• DWP Private Office and Press Office
• Parliamentary Question, Freedom of Information and Briefing teams

Purpose for external users

Outside DWP, the internet based publication mechanism means that understanding all the varied uses of the statistics and data is challenging. However other sanctions statistics have shown a variety of users from:

• Parliament: House of Commons Library, Parliamentary Committees
• other government departments,Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, Scottish and Welsh Government, local authorities and groups of local authorities
• charities and not-for-profit organisations
• academics
• external commentators: leading news media and blogs
• United Kingdom Statistics Authority
• National Audit Office
• the general public

Limitations of the statistics

Live Service

Every quarter, when the latest figures are added to the previous sanctions figures, the previous sanctions figures will be updated to take account of any changes, such as decisions being challenged or changed, that have occurred. Only the latest time point of each decision in the process of sanctions: decisions, Mandatory Reconsiderations and appeals, is kept.

When collecting and presenting the statistics in this way it can cause confusion over the number of original decisions to sanction and therefore the proportion that have been changed. It also means that, as some cases move on to Mandatory Reconsideration and appeal, there will always be retrospective adjustments to earlier publications.

When it came to deciding how to count decisions, there were 2 options. The first option was to record only the latest decision on a case, the second to record every single decision. The first option gives information about the sanctions count, whilst the second option gives information on the decision making process. It was decided that the first option, the sanctions count, was the most important information in terms of public interest and informing sanction policy, with the only drawback that we cannot know when the original decision was taken.

Data on sanction decisions where the Decision Type is an appeal should be treated with caution. The data is currently under investigation due to a potential issue with the under-recording of Appeal decisions where the Decision Outcome is adverse.

Data published prior to November 2017 contained an issue whereby a small number of Mandatory Reconsideration decisions were incorrectly recorded with either a Cancelled or Reserved Decision outcome. This issue was corrected in the November 2017 release and affected 0.3% of Mandatory Reconsideration decisions and 0.2% of all decisions.

Users should note that there is a new methodology for allocating a claimant to a Census Output Area (COA) as of our February 2018 publication.

Residency based geographies are derived from address information as recorded on the Customer Information System (CIS). CIS is a more reliable source of addresses as it links to all of the DWP benefit systems and contains the most up to date address for each individual.

These addresses are then put through a data cleansing procedure which makes sure postcodes are formatted correctly and the address fields are populated correctly. 2011 COAs are then assigned to claimants using the ONSPD (ONS Postcode Directory), starting with a direct postcode to COA lookup and then working through a logical allocation routine. These COAs are then used to merge on higher level geographies from the National Statistics Postcode Look-Up (NSPL).

This file is then matched to the sanction decisions data, ensuring that the date of decision is between the address start and end of dates. If no known address can be matched for a period of time, a previous known address for that claimant is used, as this is more accurate than random allocation. There may still be a very small number of records that are still recorded as unknown.

All higher level geographies (Lower Layer Super Output Area/Data Zone, Middle Layer Super Output Area/Intermediate Zone, Local Authority, Region, Country) are derived from COA.

Full Service

It should be noted that full service statistics are produced using a different data source and methodology to that used to produce the live service statistics, and therefore the two should not be compared.

When the latest figures are added to the previously published full service sanctions figures, the sanction figures for all previous months will be updated to take account of any changes.

Unlike the live service data, we are currently unable to report on numbers of non-adverse, cancelled or reserved decisions. This is due to the fact that only information on adverse decisions is captured on the Universal Credit full service build. Figures on adverse decisions are recorded differently on the system than those on all decisions. In February 2020, it was determined that the previous figures on all decisions for UC full service did not include non-complex decisions, due to the way information is recorded. For this reason, this measure was withdrawn.

Within the adverse decisions data, we are aware that in any given month, up to 10% of the data may be made up of errors (4%), non-adverse Mandatory Reconsideration outcomes (5%), and non-adverse Appeal outcomes (1%).

Investigation of the data is ongoing and we aim to continue to improve our methodology in order to allow us to identify these cases and report them separately.

Whereas in the live service data, we only report the latest decision on each sanction, it is our aim to include all decision outcomes at each stage within our statistics for full service once development is complete. This means that if a claimant reaches appeal stage, the outcome of their original decision and Mandatory Reconsideration will continue to be included within the data, rather than being overwritten at each stage. This will allow us to more accurately follow the journey of the claimant through the sanctions process.

As previously indicated, at present, we do not have reliable data relating to Mandatory Reconsiderations or Appeals on Universal Credit full service. We are continuing to investigate the available data and hope to be able to produce statistics on Mandatory Reconsiderations and Appeals in the near future. For this reason, any adverse decisions reported in the full service statistics relate to only original, adverse decisions, other than the 10% described previously.

The data used to produce the full service statistics is taken from the Universal Credit full service build, which is the front end system used by both agents (Work Coaches and Decision Makers) and claimants. At present, the build is undergoing continuous development in order to make it as user-friendly as possible for both agents and claimants to use. For this reason, the variables we receive in each monthly data snapshot are not always consistent – variables may be added or removed at any time, which may affect the statistics we are able to produce.

Note that sanction decisions are often made and processed after the date that the claimant failure occurred. This means that it is possible for a sanction decision to be recorded against a month differing from the one in which the claimant originally failed to meet their conditionality requirements.

Comparisons between the statistics

The nature of the process used to update the data (retrospection) means that it will be difficult to compare data between years as the data set is constantly changing as and when mandatory reconsiderations and appeals are resolved. This means that the previously released data will be updated every quarter as new information about each sanction is added to it.

The data shows that decisions can change significantly after one quarter. For live service, decisions can still change a year after the initial sanction has been applied, though the number of these changes is minimal.

Users should be aware that there are differences between sanctions policy in UC and the other benefits that will affect comparisons.

Whilst other countries also apply sanctions to their versions of Universal Credit, their systems differ too much to allow any comparisons to be made.

Source of the statistics

Live Service

The main bulk of the data is taken from the Work Services Platform (WSP), the system on which Work Coaches record doubts and one of the systems Decision Makers use to record decisions made. This is then complemented with data from the Decision Makers and Appeals Case Recorder (DMACR) system, and the Payment Manager Systems (PMX). PMX is the system used to calculate a claimant’s entitlement.

The data is collated and put on Stat-Xplore for analysis. The variables include all sanction decisions made, and decisions on individuals. These can then be broken down by:

• month decision made
• age
• gender
• geography
• decision type
• outcome
• sanction level
• referral reason

Stat-Xplore is available to the public to enable the build of tables of specific interest.

Full Service

Unlike with legacy benefits and live service, all of the data used to produce the full service statistics comes from one source: the Universal Credit full service build. This is a web-based system, accessible to both agents (Work Coaches and Decision Makers) and claimants. Information about multiple aspects of a claim are recorded via this system.

At present, no full service decisions data is available on Stat-Xplore.

Rounding

Rounding has been applied to the sanctions statistics figures in the BSS. The headline figures and those accompanying the graphs have been rounded as follows.

Table 2: Rounding

From	To	Round to nearest
0	1,000	10
1,001	10,000	100
10,001	100,000	1,000
100,001	1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001	10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001	100,000,000	1,000,000

An exception has been made to the rounding in some sanction statistics tables. Some tables contain a range of numeric values and in these instances, the lower rounding band has been applied across the whole table.

Definitions within the statistics

There are certain terms used in the Benefit Sanctions Statistics that need explanation.

Universal Credit Sanction reason charts

Within the Benefit Sanction Statistics publication there is a chart which breaks down the sanction decisions by reason. For the purposes of this chart, the reasons are grouped together, with the groupings shown below in Table 1 along with the sanction level to which each reason belongs.

Table 3: Reason Group and Sanction Level

Reason Group	Sanction Level
Work Focused Interviews – Fail to comply with an interview requirement	Low
Work Focused Interviews – Fail to comply with an interview requirement (Self Employed)	Low
Work Focused Interviews – Fail to comply with a Work-Focused Interview requirement	Lowest
Availability for Work – Fail to accept a job	High
Availability for Work – Fail to apply for a job	High
Availability for Work – Fail to be available to take up work	Medium
Availability for Work – Fail to comply with a work preparation requirement	Low
Availability for Work – Fail to undertake all reasonable work search action	Medium
Availability for Work – Fail to undertake particular, specified Work Search action	Low
Availability for Work – Other Availability for Work reason	Low
Employment Programmes – Fail to participate in an Employment Programme	Low
Employment Programmes – Fail to participate in training	Low
Employment Programmes – Fail to undertake Mandatory Work Activity	High
Employment Programmes – Fail to undertake work experience or work placement	Low
Reason for Leaving Previous Employment – Leaving employment Voluntarily	High
Reason for Leaving Previous Employment – Loss of employment through Misconduct	High
Other (Not Included in Summary Charts) – Fail to comply with requirement to provide evidence or confirm Compliance	Low and Lowest (see note)
Other (Not Included in Summary Charts) – Fail to comply with requirement to report specified change in circumstances relevant to Work requirements	Low and Lowest (see note)
Other (Not Included in Summary Charts) – Lose pay through Misconduct	High
Other (Not Included in Summary Charts) – Lose pay Voluntarily	High

Note: The level is Lowest for those in the Planning for work conditionality regime, otherwise the level is Low.

Definitions of decision types

Adverse

Decision to apply a sanction

Non-adverse

Decision to not apply a sanction or lift one already applied

Reserved

Decision to apply a sanction cannot be imposed because the claimant is currently not entitled to/claiming the UC standard allowance.

Cancelled

The referral is cancelled without a sanction being applied

Revisions to the statistics

DWP has a policy for planned revisions describing how we will handle revisions and give confidence that all revisions will be handled in a transparent manner. For these statistics, to reflect any updates to the figures, the full historic statistical series is refreshed each time the figures are released.

We allow some time for additional information to be incorporated into DWP’s data systems. This time period is referred to as retrospection. Information may be submitted, corrected or resubmitted sometime after the event occurred. This means that data presented in each release is subject to some retrospection and figures may be revised in subsequent releases, especially the most recent months.

For example, if a decision to apply a sanction is made, the data may then be published before the next steps are commenced. If all the steps are gone through in order, it may be some time before the final stage is reached, sometimes a year after the initial decision to sanction has been made.

The methodology for how residence-based geographies are derived, as outlined in the Limitations of the statistics section, changed in the February 2018 release of the statistics. This means that figures, by residence-based geography (for example, local authority), released from this point will not be directly comparable to those published previously. The impact for UC will be minimal. The exact level of revision will vary dependent on the time period and type of geography selected. Users are therefore advised to recreate any figures that include a residence-based geography breakdown using the new data.

Status of the statistics

Official statistics in development

In line with recent Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) guidance, all statistics previously referred to as ‘experimental’ will now be referred to as ‘official statistics in development’.

The Universal Credit sanctions (official statistics in development) show numbers of decisions that have been referred to sanction. Breakdowns are available by

• age
• gender
• decision outcome
• decision type
• geography

Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing a development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Read more information on types of official statistics.

Quality statement

These statistics have been developed using guidelines set out by the UK Statistics Authority and are new official statistics undergoing evaluation. They have, therefore, been designated as official statistics in development. Users are invited to comment on the development and relevance of these statistics at this stage.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR.

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly at epass.team@dwp.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

In June 2023 the BSS publication underwent an OSR compliance check. This details our work to comply with the code of practice and our continued development to maintain our compliance.

The BSS are published quarterly in February, May, August and November. Statistical outputs are produced in a timely manner and dates of release are pre-announced in accordance with the Code of Practice. Should pre-announced dates of release need to be changed, or any issues occur impacting the coverage of the bulletin or delays to any aspect of the bulletin, we will provide an explanation on the statistics at DWP page. Information on pre-release access is published on the statistics at DWP page.

BSS are published through a range of dissemination methods including Stat-Xplore which is an online tool that lets you create and download customised statistical tables, and view the results in interactive charts. Methodologies, processes, and practices are documented, and documentation is kept up to date and made available publicly where appropriate. This documentation is regularly reviewed to follow any emerging best practice or to learn from experience. Currently the BSS is conducting a quality assurance report of Administrative Datasets used in the production of the BSS statistics, once complete this will be published.

Ongoing suspensions of data and measures can be found in the latest release of the BSS publication. Recent and ongoing development of the BSS statistics can be found on the DWP statistical work programme. Limitations of our statistics are also publicly published in this document. Please see limitations of these statistics section.

Feedback

To give feedback on the Universal Credit Sanctions Official Statistics email: epass.team@dwp.gov.uk

Or write to:

Tracy Hills
Development Team Client Statistics
Digital
Data and Analytics
Room BP5201
Benton Park View
Longbenton
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE98 1YX

Useful links

Read the most recent and previous quarterly statistical summaries.

Read the JSA and ESA, UC & IS sanction statistics, including the links to the most recent statistics in data tables.

Use Stat-Xplore to tabulate any of the information available on sanctions.

Read the publication strategy for sanctions statistics.

Read all the statistics available from DWP.

Read a schedule for upcoming DWP statistical releases.

1. Days of the sanctions are served, however claimant has enough earnings to not receive any standard allowance. ↩