Official Statistics

Benefit sanctions statistics to November 2023 (official statistics in development)

Published 13 February 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

This is the latest quarterly release of statistics on Benefit Sanctions and includes data up to November 2023.

The next statistics release will be 14 May 2024.

We are seeking user feedback on this statistical bulletin. Send comments to: epass.team@dwp.gov.uk

There should be no comparisons made across benefits.

The data sources used to produce these statistics are very different and while we have attempted to use a consistent methodology, there are differences in methodological approaches between benefits. Additionally, the benefits themselves are very different and require interpretation based on the rules of the specific benefit.

The sanctions process means that the outcome of a sanction is subject to retrospective changes which should be considered when using the decision data.

With this release the rate methodology has undergone improvement and durations have been reinstated. Please see section 3.1 Benefit sanction rates and section 5. Benefit sanction durations of this document.

1. Main stories

The statistics show:

• in November 2023, 7.14% of Universal Credit (UC) claimants who were in the conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, were undergoing a sanction on the count date. The UC sanction rate is up by 0.07 percentage points from August 2023 and is up by 0.03 percentage points in the latest 12 months     

• in November 2023, 30.3% of UC claimants were in the conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied. This is the lowest across the time series from January 2017 to November 2023

• failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for 95.8% of all adverse sanction decisions in the last year and 94.8% in the latest quarter

• there were 22,000 completed sanctions in the 4 weeks to 13 weeks sanction duration band and 4,200 completed sanctions in the over 26 weeks sanction duration band in November 2023. These have remained broadly stable over the last 12 months

For further information about how the rate is calculated, please see the UC background information and methodology document.

2. What you need to know

The data in this publication is the latest available for statistics on sanctions for UC. Statistics are available from:

• August 2015 to July 2020 for UC live service sanction decisions

• May 2016 to October 2023 for UC full service adverse sanction decisions

• January 2017 to November 2023 for UC full service and live service rate, and sanction durations

Users can also:

• produce their own tables and access demographic breakdowns using Stat-Xplore

• access the supporting data tables that accompany each release of statistics

Data for UC full service Original Adverse Sanction Decisions is now available on Stat-Xplore. This includes breakdowns for Age, Gender, Month, JCP, Referral Reasons and Sanction Level

Claimants are required to meet agreed conditions to be eligible for Universal Credit. If a claimant does not meet one or more conditions of their benefit claim without good reason, their benefit could be stopped or reduced. This is a benefit sanction. However, not everyone that is initially referred for failing to meet the conditions of their claim will receive a sanction. Where a claimant’s benefit is reduced, the claimant may be eligible for a hardship payment.

Statistics regarding Universal Credit (UC) rate and duration cover both UC live and full service.

The sanction rate measures the number of claimants undergoing a sanction on the second Thursday of the reference month (the count date) divided by the number of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied. This is different to the data on sanction decisions, which uses the total number of decisions across a whole month. Further information on definitions is provided in the About these statistics section and within the background and methodology documents.

Statistics covered in this bulletin 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 COVID-19 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.

Further information about the sanctions process and source of these statistics can be found in the background information and guidance documents.

3. Sanction rates and conditionality

Statistics covered in this bulletin include data for sanction decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, see the notes in the What you need to know section of this bulletin.

Suspended measures re-introduced and methodological improvement

Following a review of the methodology for UC sanction rates and durations, sanction rate data between January 2017 and April 2019 has been re-introduced alongside an improved methodology.

For further information on the methodological improvement, see the background and methodology documents.

3.1 Benefit sanction rates

The sanction rate measures the number of claimants undergoing a sanction on the second Thursday of the reference month (the count date) divided by the number of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied.

In this release, the benefit sanction rate methodology has been improved and has allowed the reinstatement of UC live service data to the rate. From this release the sanction rate will cover both UC live and full service. The timeseries is extended back to January 2017, the earliest point at which the data for UC live and full service was fully available. Please see the background and methodology documents for more information.

The UC sanction rate in November 2023 was 7.14%, which remains lower than the peak in the available timeseries of 11.83% in January 2017

UC claimants undergoing a sanction, as a proportion of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time, January 2017 to November 2023

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

The number of claimants in conditionality regimes is counted at a specific point in time, the second Thursday of the month. As such it is possible for a claimant to be in a conditionality regime where sanctions can be applied and receive a sanction, before moving to a conditionality regime where sanctions cannot be applied before the count date. The sanction would appear in the numerator for the rate calculation, while the claimant would not appear in the denominator.

In the latest month (November 2023), the sanction rate was 7.14%, this is up by 0.07 percentage points from August 2023 and is up by 0.03 percentage points compared to 12 months ago. The UC sanction rate reached a peak of 11.83% in January 2017 for the timeseries from January 2017 to November 2023.

The monthly rate of UC claimants undergoing a sanction peaked in January 2017 at 11.83%. From this peak we see notable dips leading to a decline of the rate to 2.51% in March 2020. At this time there was a sharp downwards trend, which coincided with an increase to the UC caseload during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sanction rate remained low until June 2021, when it began to rise following the return to face-to-face appointments in April 2021. The rate steadily rose from May 2021 till June 2022 and has since remained between 6% and 8%. As of November 2023, the rate was 7.14%.

For a complete description of what has changed in the methodology and the data limitations, refer to the background and methodology documents.

3.2 Conditionality

Not all UC claimants are in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied. Those where sanctions can be applied are the “searching for work”, “planning for work”, “preparing for work” or “unknown” conditionality regimes.

The number of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied was on a downward trend from April 2021 until May 2022, after which it has remained largely stable

UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time, January 2017 to November 2023

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

From January 2017, the number of UC claimants who were in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied increased gradually until March 2020, when it spiked between March 2020 and May 2020 by 97%. Between May 2020 and May 2021 there were over 2.5 million UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, reaching the highest point in March 2021 (2.72 million). From April 2021 we saw an overall steady decline until May 2022. In November 2023, the number of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied was at 1.89 million.

The percentage of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied was highest in March 2017 and has steadily declined reaching its lowest point in November 2023

Percentage of UC in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time, January 2017 to November 2023

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

Over the course of the roll-out of UC, the balance of individuals subject to sanction as a proportion of the caseload has changed. In November 2023, 30.3% of UC claimants were in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied compared to 44.7% in March 2020, just prior to changes made to work requirements as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. From here, the percentage of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied temporarily increased to 50.0% in April 2020 and 50.4% in May 2020, coinciding with an increase to the UC caseload during the COVID-19 pandemic. The percentage of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied then decreased to 43.5% in January 2021 and then increased to 45.6% in March 2021. From here an overall decline is observed, with the most recent month November 2023 having the lowest percentage of claimants (30.3%) in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied across the timeseries.

4. Sanction decisions and reasons

Statistics covered in this bulletin include data for sanction decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, see the notes in the What you need to know section of this bulletin.

Claimants will continue to migrate from Legacy Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) onto UC full service or New Style JSA and ESA until legacy benefits have ceased. As of April 2019, 100% of UC live service claimants transferred onto full service.

Data for numbers of original adverse sanction decisions has been included from May 2016, for UC full service. This is because prior to this time, UC full service was only being implemented as a trial in a small area of the UK only (Sutton, Southwark, Croydon, Hounslow and Musselburgh). More information about this is available in our UC background information and methodology document.

It should be noted that references to UC full service adverse sanction decisions describe original, adverse sanction decisions only. We are currently unable to provide statistics on original non-adverse, reserved or cancelled sanction decisions, as this information is not captured on the administrative system.

4.1 UC full service: Adverse sanction decisions and reasons

The number of adverse sanction decisions has shown an overall increase from January 2023 to October 2023

UC full service adverse sanction decisions by month, May 2016 to October 2023

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

In October 2023 there were 53,000 original adverse sanction decisions made for UCFS. The numbers of adverse sanction decisions reached a pre-pandemic peak in July 2019 (23,000) after following an upward trend as UC full service was rolled out and the UC caseload built up. In March 2020 the number of adverse sanction decisions decreased to 11,000. The number of adverse sanction decisions continued to drop following the legislative changes to work requirements on 30 March 2020 (in response to the COVID-19 pandemic), falling to 0 adverse sanction decisions in July 2020.

In August 2020, the number of UC full service adverse sanction decisions began to gradually increase until May 2021, where they reached 1,700. Face to face appointments were reintroduced from April 2021. From June 2021, a much larger increase was observed, continuing until November 2021, where they reached 38,000. Adverse sanction decisions then decreased to 32,000 in December 2021, before continually increasing to 59,000 in March 2022. This is the highest number of adverse sanction decisions on UC full service across the whole timeseries, and 2.5 times the size it was at its previous pre-pandemic peak in July 2019 (23,000). Since the peak in March 2022, the number of adverse sanction decisions has varied greatly. The number of adverse sanction decisions has shown an overall increase from January 2023 (45,000) to October 2023 (53,000).

Summary of original UCFS adverse sanction decision reasons from November 2022 to October 2023

Original adverse sanction decisions made by reason group	Latest Year	Latest Year (%)	Latest Quarter	Latest Quarter (%)
Failure to Attend or Participate in a Mandatory Interview	515,950	95.8	140,850	94.8
Availability for Work	9,280	1.7	3,330	2.2
Employment Programmes	8,180	1.5	2,510	1.7
Reasons for Leaving Previous Employment	4,490	0.8	1,570	1.1
Other	940	0.2	330	0.2
Total	538,840	100.0	148,580	100.0

Notes

1. Note that these are original, adverse sanction decisions, not all decisions as with other benefits.

2. Disclosure control has been applied to this data for confidentiality purposes. Due to this, totals may not be the sum of the individual data breakdown.

3. For a full breakdown of the adverse sanction decision reasons, see the methodology document.

4. Please note that in previously published statistics, mandatory interviews were referred to as Work-Focused Interviews.

Failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for 95.8% of all adverse sanction decisions in the last year. Availability for Work was the next most common adverse sanction reason, accounting for 1.7% of adverse sanction decisions in the last year, followed closely by Employment Programmes which accounts for 1.5% of adverse decisions in the last year.

4.2 UC live service: Sanction decisions and reasons

Please note that all sanction statistics for UC live service are frozen as UC live service ceased in January 2018, with no updates published past the November 2020 release of this bulletin. The frozen UC live service statistics are still available in this publication to enable consideration of the full timeseries for UC sanction statistics.

The volume of decisions processed fell to 0 because UC live service has closed to new claims, and the entire caseload has migrated to UC full service

UC live service sanction decisions by month, August 2015 to July 2020

Notes:

1. Data from 1 April 2019 includes mandatory reconsiderations and appeals only.

2. UC live service sanction statistics are now frozen; the final update was published in the version of this bulletin released on 10 November 2020.

Source: Sanction Decisions Stat-Xplore tables

The total number of monthly decisions varied from August 2015, with peaks in December 2016 (50,000) and October 2017 (46,000), falling to 0 in April 2020, where it remained.

Adverse sanction decisions make up the majority of outcomes for both original decisions and mandatory reconsiderations

Summary of UC live service decision outcomes at each stage, August 2015 to July 2020

Notes:

1. UC live service sanction statistics are now frozen; the final update was published in the version of this bulletin released on 10 November 2020.

2. Percentages presented for one or more categories on this graph may not total 100% because data is not included for reserved and cancelled decisions.

Source: Sanction Decisions Stat-Xplore tables

53.1% of original decisions resulted in a sanction being applied and 69.1% of mandatory reconsiderations resulted in a sanction being upheld from August 2015 to July 2020.

Summary of UC live service decision reasons from August 2019 to July 2020 (Frozen Data)

All decisions made by reason group	Latest year for which data is available (August 2019 to July 2020)	Latest year for which data is available (%) (August 2019 to July 2020)	Latest quarter for which data is available (May 2020 to July 2020)
Failure to Attend or Participate in a Mandatory Interview	30	53.3	0
Availability for Work	10	18.3	0
Employment Programmes	10	20.0	0
Reason for Leaving Previous Employment	0	0.0	0
Other	0	0.0	0
Total	60	100.0	0

Notes:

1. Disclosure control has been applied to this data for confidentiality purposes. Due to this, totals may not be the sum of the individual data breakdowns.

2. 100% of UC live service claimants were transferred onto UC full service by April 2019. There are no original decisions on UC live service past this point, hence any changes beyond this point refer to mandatory reconsiderations and appeals only.

3. Proportions are not given for the latest quarter, where the overall number of sanction decisions is low. This is because the disclosure control applied to the data could cause a misleading representation when calculating percentages.

4. For a full breakdown of the adverse sanction decision reasons see the methodology document.

5. UC live service sanction statistics are frozen, the final update was published in the version of this bulletin released on 10 November 2020.

6. Please note that in previously published statistics, mandatory interviews were referred to as Work-Focused Interviews. Failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview is still listed as Work-Focused Interviews on Stat-Xplore.

Failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for 53.3% of all UC live service sanction decisions from August 2019 to July 2020.

5. Benefit sanction durations

Statistics regarding Universal Credit (UC) rate and duration cover both UC live and full service.

Suspended measures re-introduced and methodological improvement

Following an extensive review of the methodology for UC sanction rates and durations, durations data has been re-introduced alongside an improved methodology. For further information on the improved methodology, see the background and methodology documents.

The sanction rate is measured at a point in time (second Thursday of the month) to give an indication of how many people are undergoing a sanction at the given count date. Sanction durations show the length of sanctions that have completed in the month they ended.

The improved durations methodology measures each sanction individually without breaking it if the sanction does not cause a payment reduction. For a complete description of what has changed in the methodology and the data limitations, refer to the background and methodology documents.

5.1 UC: Length of completed sanctions

More completed sanctions since July 2021 have a duration of over 4 weeks to 13 weeks than any other sanction duration band

The number of completed sanctions by sanction duration bands, January 2017 to November 2023

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

In each month since July 2021, the largest number of completed sanctions is in the over 4 weeks to 13 weeks band. In November 2023 there were 22,000 completed sanctions for a duration of over 4 weeks to 13 weeks. Since April 2022 the overall trend for this sanction duration band has been broadly flat, although numbers have fluctuated between a low of 17,400 (February 2023) and a high of 23,400 (October 2023).

The number of completed sanctions lasting under 4 weeks has been gradually increasing overall during the last 12 months. In November 2022 there were 10,400 completed sanctions increasing to 14,400 completed sanctions in November 2023.

The over 13 weeks to 26 weeks and over 26 weeks bands have been relatively stable over the last 12 months at broadly similar levels.  The over 13 weeks to 26 has 4,700 completed sanctions in November 2023 compared with 4,800 in November 2022. The over 26 weeks band has 4,200 completed sanctions in November 2023 compared with 4,000 in November 2022.

There are a higher number of completed sanctions in all the sanction duration bands the months after the COVID-19 pandemic than the months before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this should be considered alongside the number of claimants on UC in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied having increased over the period to be 40% higher in November 2023 than in March 2020 (Please see section 3.2 Conditionality).

Between April 2020 and May 2021 (during the COVID-19 pandemic) there was a reduction in the number of completed sanctions in each month, reducing to less than 1,000 completed sanctions in each month between August 2020 and May 2021. The reduction in completed sanctions during this period was due to the legislative changes to work requirements on 30 March 2020 (in response to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Less than 10% of completed sanctions have had a duration for over 26 weeks in each month between September 2022 and November 2023

The number of completed sanctions by sanction duration bands, January 2017 to November 2023

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

Of the 45,300 completed sanctions in November 2023, 9.2% were of a duration of over 26 weeks (4,200 completed sanctions). This is a proportion that is decreasing over the last 12 months from 10.2% (4,000 out of 38,800) in November 2022 and a peak of 11.4% (4,200 out of 36,500) in January 2023.

There were 80.4% of completed sanctions in November 2023 in either the 4 weeks and under (14,400 completed sanctions) or over 4 weeks to 13 weeks (22,000) bands. This has increased from 77.4% in November 2022 when there were 10,400 completed sanctions in the 4 weeks and under band and 19,700 in the over 4 weeks to 13 weeks band out of a total of 38,800 completed sanctions.

In the period April 2020 to June 2021 (during the COVID-19 pandemic) there was an increase in the proportion of completed sanctions that were over 26 weeks (from 8.0% in March 2020 to a high of 85.5% in September 2020). During this period there were legislative changes to work requirements on 30 March 2020 (in response to the COVID-19 pandemic) which meant most completed sanctions during the period were for sanctions already in place before the pandemic.

6. Sanction destinations

6.1 Destinations of UC live service claimants receiving a benefit sanction

The majority of sanctioned UC live service claimants spent more than 5 months after the end of a sanction in receipt of working age benefits

Distribution of the number of months spent by UC claimants earning or on working age benefits in the 180 days (6 months) following a sanction decision from 1 August 2015 to 28 February 2019

Notes:

1. There were no original adverse sanction decisions made on UC live service after 31 March 2019.

2. UC live service sanction statistics are frozen. The final update was published in the version of this bulletin released on 10 November 2020.

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

After receiving a UC live service sanction decision from 1 August 2015 to 28 February 2019, claimants spent an average (mean) of 153 days out of the following 180 days in receipt of benefit (UC, JSA, ESA (Work Related Activity Group (WRAG)) or Income Support (IS)). On average (mean), only 2 of the 180 days were spent on a benefit that was not UC.

In the 180 days following a UC live service sanction decision from 1 August 2015 to 28 February 2019, 4.9% of claimants were not in receipt of any of the tracked benefits (UC, JSA, ESA (WRAG) or IS). 76.2% of claimants spent over 150 days (5 months) in receipt of benefit and 70.3% of claimants spent the full 180 days in receipt of benefit.

After receiving a benefit sanction decision from 1 August 2015 to 28 February 2019, UC live service claimants spent an average (mean) of 51 days out of the following 180 days earning, with 9.0% of claimants earning for the full 180 days after they had been sanctioned. See the methodology document for further information on how earnings are calculated.

7. About these statistics

Figures in this bulletin are rounded in accordance with the DWP rounding policy for statistics, details of which can be found in the “Rounding” section of the background information and methodology document. Unrounded figures from the underlying data available on Stat-Xplore or in accompanying tables may not sum exactly to the rounded totals accordingly.

Interpretation of data and the sanction process

Care must be taken when interpreting the duration charts and figures as, for fair comparisons, sufficient time must have passed before longer duration categories can be achieved. These statistics include those sanctions which subsequently go on to be overturned. Claimants whose sanction is overturned will be repaid any deduction. When a claimant leaves benefit following a sanction start, but before the sanction is served, the claim end date is taken to be the sanction end date. In the cases where a sanction end date is the same date as the sanction start, these small number of cases are still counted as a sanction applied.

Other National and Official Statistics

Read about other National and Official Statistics produced by DWP.

Users can also find further information about the sanctions process, source of these statistics and the publication rounding policy in the background information and methodology documents.

Changes, revisions and known issues

The following information is about changes, revisions and known issues with the statistics.

Following a review of the methodology for UC sanction rates and durations, sanction rate data between January 2017 and April 2019 has been re-introduced alongside an improved methodology. For further information on the methodological improvement, see the background and methodology documents.

Statistics covered in this bulletin include data for sanction decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although legislative changes to disapply work-search and work availability requirements were effective between 30 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 (in response to the pandemic), some sanction decisions for these types of failures could have been made during this time period. This is because decisions are often made and processed after the date that the claimant failure occurred. This means that it was possible for sanction decisions to be recorded after legislation changes came into effect, in instances where a claimant prior to 30 March 2020 has failed to meet the work requirements set out in their claimant commitment. Additionally, sanction decisions were also possible for some failures which occurred after this date, for example, for leaving a job voluntarily without good reason or for misconduct.

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

This impacts data for UC and JSA sanctions.

Figures for UC full service adverse sanction decisions, UC live service decisions and destinations (now frozen), and all legacy benefit measures (no longer reported on) are unaffected by this.

Due to the availability of some data on UC live service it has not been possible to apply the UC rate and durations improved methodology to UC sanctions before January 2017. Therefore, statistics are only presented from January 2017. See the background and methodology documents for further information.

Definitions

UC full service

Full service is the digital system that administers Universal Credit for the full range of claimant groups. It was gradually introduced to Jobcentres from 2016 and was available in every Jobcentre (including Northern Ireland) by December 2018. It is worth noting that whilst UC full service is available in Northern Ireland, these statistics exclude these cases.

At present, we only hold data on original, adverse sanction decisions for claimants on UC full service and cannot differentiate between non-adverse, reserved and cancelled outcomes. Prior to May 2016, UC full service was being implemented as a trial in a small area of the UK only (Sutton, Southwark, Croydon, Hounslow and Musselburgh) so data on original, adverse sanction decisions is included from May 2016 onwards.

UC live service

The original service administrating Universal Credit. It was gradually introduced to Jobcentres from 2013 and was available in every Jobcentre (excluding Northern Ireland) by May 2016. All claimants were moved to full service by April 2019.

New claims to UC live service ceased in January 2018, and since then the remaining live service cases have been gradually migrated to UC full service. This has resulted in a gradual decrease in the number of live service sanction decisions. By 1 April 2019, the systems that were used to administer live service cases were shut down. Due to this, data for any original UC live service sanction decisions has been frozen from this point.

Sanction decisions

A claimant can be subject to sanction when they do not meet a condition of their benefit. The Decision Maker looks at the available information about the claimant and their referral and decides on an outcome. The decision made can be:

• Adverse – they decide to sanction the claimant

• Non-Adverse – they decide not to sanction the claimant

• Cancelled – they decide that the referral was not appropriate and cancel it

• Reserved (UC live service only) – a decision to sanction the claimant cannot be made, since the claimant is not currently on benefit, so the sanction cannot be applied. The claimant will be re-referred to a Decision Maker if they begin to claim benefit again

Within this publication, we refer to all of these outcomes as decisions. Many sanction decisions can be made during the course of a claim where the claimant has failed to meet the conditions of their benefit claim more than once.

Sanction stages

Each UC live service decision can have a maximum of 4 stages, beginning with the Original Decision made by a Decision Maker. If the claimant does not agree that their benefit should be reduced, they may request a Decision Review, Mandatory Reconsideration, and Appeal. UC full service has a maximum of 3 stages as there is no Decision Review.

In the statistics, only the latest decision is kept, meaning that any previous decisions for each sanction referral are updated with every publication.

Sanction durations

We count the length of time that each claimant is undergoing a sanction and calculate the median duration of all sanctioned claimants.

The median is the middle number when all of the sanction lengths have been arranged from smallest to largest. Durations are counted up to and including the last month in which a sanction is applied. The underlying figures can be found in the supporting tables that accompany each release of statistics.

Sanction rate

For UC, the rate is calculated by dividing the number of claimants undergoing a sanction by the number of UC claimants who are in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time. The conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied are:

• searching for work

• planning for work

• preparing for work

• unknown

These figures are calculated differently to the decisions figures, which are based on the number of decisions made in a full month. The underlying figures can be found in the supporting tables that accompany each release of statistics.

Destinations

We track what happens to claimants after they receive an original, adverse sanction decision. The figures show the amount of time spent on different working age benefits (UC, JSA, ESA (WRAG) and IS) in the 180-day period following the decision. In addition, we have developed statistics to show who has had a period of earnings after their sanction. Further information can be found in the destinations methodology document.

Contact information and feedback

Authors: James Gray, Sophie Martin, Temi Olubajo, Craig Mejury and Stephen Slater

Lead Statistician: Tracy Hills

For more information on sanction statistics, contact the Employment Programmes and Sanction Statistics team at epass.team@dwp.gov.uk.

DWP would like to hear your views on our statistical publications. If you use any of these statistics publications, we would be interested in hearing what you use them for and how well they meet your requirements. Please email DWP at epass.team@dwp.gov.uk.

Users can also join the “Welfare and Benefit Statistics” community at StatsUserNet. DWP announces items of interest to users via this forum, as well as replying to users’ questions.

ISBN: 978-1-78659-604-8