Official Statistics

Benefit sanctions statistics to November 2024

Published 18 February 2025

The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of benefit sanctions statistics.

This is the latest quarterly release of statistics on Benefit Sanctions and includes data up to November 2024. 

The next statistics release will be 13 May 2025. 

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.

Sanction rate and duration statistics use the same data sources and base methodology. Please see the UC background information and methodology document. However, the sanction rate and durations cover different time periods with the sanction rate measured at a point in time (second Thursday of every month). Sanction durations are measured in the month that the sanction ended. Comparisons with Universal Credit (UC) published sanctions statistics prior to February 2024 and historic statistics for sanctions on legacy benefits should not be made. This is because the data sources, methodology and rules of the benefits differ from those used for UC currently. 

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

We will continue to progress developments to meet user needs through the DWP Statistical Work Programme. 

1. Main stories 

The statistics show: 

• in November 2024, 5.5% of 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 down by 0.1 percentage points from August 2024 and is down by 1.6 percentage points in the latest 12 months.

• in November 2024, 28.7% of UC claimants were in the conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied

• failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for 91.7% of all adverse sanction decisions in the last year and 91.1% in the latest quarter 

• in November 2024 there were 22,000 completed sanctions in the 4 weeks to 13 weeks sanction duration band and 3,500 completed sanctions in the over 26 weeks sanction duration band 

• in November 2024, the sanction rate for ethnic groups in comparison to the White ethnic group show:

  • there is no meaningful impact on the difference in the sanction rate for the Black/Black British/African/Caribbean ethnic group compared to the White ethnic group

  • there are meaningful differences in the sanction rate for the Mixed/Multiple ethnic group which are 29% more likely to experience a sanction than the White ethnic group

  • there are meaningful differences in the sanction rate for the Asian/Asian British which are 29% less likely to experience a sanction than the White ethnic group

  • there are meaningful differences in the sanction rate for the Other ethnic group which are 26% less likely to experience a sanction than the White ethnic group

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

2. What you need to know

UC live service data is frozen to April 2019, when the systems that were used to administer live service cases were shut down. UC live service data continues to be included in the rate and duration statistics. 

In April 2023 72% of UC claimants with an adverse sanction decision had declared their ethnicity and we published breakdowns of adverse sanction decisions for UC claimants by ethnicity for the first time in August 2024. 

In the November 2024 release, we included statistics on numbers of people in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied by ethnicity. This was to allow meaningful comparison with adverse sanction decisions data. 

The level of ethnicity declarations for those claimants included within the sanction rate measure, reached the minimum level of 70% in September 2024 and are published for the first time in this release.

Please see the UC background information and methodology document for more information on the ethnicity methodology. 

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

• May 2016 to October 2024 for UC full service adverse sanction decisions 

• January 2017 to November 2024 for UC full service and live service rate, sanction durations, and conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied 

Users can also: 

• produce their own tables and access demographic breakdowns using Stat-Xplore. Please see the Stat-Xplore User Guide for information about generating tables on Stat-Xplore 

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

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 recoverable hardship payment  

Statistics regarding 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 was 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 

For further information on the current methodology, 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. 

The sanction rate covers 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 document for more information. 

The UC sanction rate in November 2024 was 5.5% 

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 2024 

 

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 2024, the sanction rate was 5.5%. This is down by 0.1 percentage points from August 2024 and is down by 1.6 percentage points compared to 12 months earlier.

The UC sanction rate was 11.8% in January 2017, which is the highest point in the time series starting from January 2017. From this point we see notable dips leading to a decline of the rate to 2.5% 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 remained between 6% and 8%, until July 2024 where it dropped below 6%. 

For details of the rate and duration methodology, 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 2.1 million in November 2024 

UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time, January 2017 to November 2024 

 

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. In March 2021, it reached the highest point (2.7 million) in the time series since January 2017. From April 2021 we saw an overall steady decline until October 2022, after which the number of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied has gradually risen. In November 2024, the number of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied is 2.1 million. 

The percentage of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied was 28.7% in November 2024 

Percentage of UC in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time, January 2017 to November 2024 

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

Over the course of the roll-out of UC, the balance of individuals in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied as a proportion of the caseload has varied. 

In March 2017, the percentage of claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied reached 64.8%, the highest point in the time series since January 2017. It gradually fell to 44.7% by March 2020, just prior to changes made to work requirements because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, this percentage temporarily rose to 50.0% in April 2020 and 50.4% in May 2020, corresponding with an increase in the UC caseload during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, there has been a general decline, with the latest available month (November 2024) recording the lowest percentage of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied (28.7%) throughout the timeseries from August 2015 to November 2024.

4. Sanction decisions and reasons 

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 was 62,000 in October 2024 

UC full service adverse sanction decisions by month, May 2016 to October 2024 

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

In July 2019, the numbers of adverse sanction decisions reached the highest pre-pandemic point (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. The number of adverse sanction decisions rose sharply to (59,000) in March 2022, and varied between this and a low of 27,000 recorded in December 2023 with a sharp increase to 57,000 in January 2024. The dip in December 2023 is much larger compared to previous December dips and is 24 percentage points bigger than in December 2022. The number of adverse sanction decisions increased to 62,000 in October 2024, which was the highest point in the time series since May 2016.

Summary of original UCFS adverse sanction decision reasons from November 2023 to October 2024 

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	551,790	91.7	151,950	91.1
Availability for Work	24,870	4.1	7,760	4.7
Employment Programmes	15,340	2.5	4,330	2.6
Reasons for Leaving Previous Employment	8,400	1.4	2,310	1.4
Other	1,600	0.3	400	0.2
Unknown	5	0.0	0	0.0
Total	602,000	100.0	166,750	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 91.7% of all adverse sanction decisions in the last year. Availability for Work was the next most common adverse sanction reason, accounting 4.1% of adverse sanction decisions in the last year, followed closely by Employment Programmes which accounts for 2.5% of adverse decisions in the last year.  

5. UC full service: Sanction Ethnicity Statistics

Universal Credit claimants are asked to answer optional equality questions when making their claim. 

In April 2023, the adverse sanction decisions statistics crossed the 70% threshold. In October 2024, this response rate was 77%. UC Sanction ethnicity statistics should be treated with caution due to a degree of non-completion. See UC background information and methodology document  note for further information about this.

The level of ethnicity declarations for those claimants included within the sanction rate measure, reached the minimum level of 70% in September 2024 and are published for the first time in this release.

Caution should also be taken when comparing ethnicity representation over time, because changes in the response rate may impact this. Additionally, the balance of ethnicity diversity across the general population varies by geographical location and by age group, so changes in other demographics may have an impact to the ethnicity trends. See the ONS Census Data. 

Ethnicity representation is presented as a percentage of known declarations, which provides the best estimate of ethnicity representation in the caseload and enables meaningful comparison across time. This means that (unrounded) percentages sum to 100% and exclude those with an adverse sanction decision where the ethnicity was not declared. Some of these ethnic groups have been aggregated in benefit sanction statistics for clarity of presentation and to harmonise with other government statistics. 

5.1 UC Sanction Rate.

People on UC with a sanction, as a proportion of people in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied by ethnic group

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

For an explanation of the calculation of the sanction rate, please see section 3.1

As the 70% threshold for deriving robust statistics on sanction rate by ethnicity was only achieved in September 2024 there are insufficient data points to comment on trends.

The sanction rate for the Mixed /Multiple ethnic group, and the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British ethnic group in November 2024 were 7.2% and 5.8% respectively. In comparison, the White ethnic group had a sanction rate of 5.6%. The Asian/Asian British and Other ethnic group had sanction rates of 4.0% and 4.1% respectively.

Relative Likelihoods

Relative likelihoods are a statistical technique carried out to identify any differences that are significant between ethnic groups. It follows the methodology used as the standard approach for assessing disparities of outcomes by ethnicity, developed and recommended for use across Government by the Cabinet Office (Race Equality Unit)) published in 2020. It is used in other Government departments for considering potential disparities of outcomes by ethnicity. For an explanation of relative likelihoods and how to interpret them please see the background note.

Relative likelihoods by ethnicity compared to the White ethnic group, September to November 2024

Month	Asian/ Asian  British	Black/ African/ Caribbean/ Black  British	Mixed/ Multiple  Ethnic Groups	White	Other  Ethnic  Group
September 2024	0.75 [s]	1.06 [s]	1.27 [s]	1.00	0.83 [s]
October 2024	0.71 [s]	1.04 [s]	1.29 [s]	1.00	0.77 [s]
November 2024	0.71 [s]	1.03 [s]	1.29 [s]	1.00	0.74 [s]

Note: [s] indicates the value is statistically significant at the 5% level

[ns] indicates the value is not statistically significant at the 5% level

Ethnic groups range from being 29% less likely to experience a sanction than the White ethnic group to 29% more likely to experience a sanction in November 2024

Relative likelihoods of ethnic groups compared to the White ethnic group with a 95% confidence interval, September to November 2024

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables

Relative likelihoods have been used make comparisons of the sanction rate between ethnic groups, with the White ethnic group as the baseline. It is important to consider both the statistical significance of any apparent differences (whether this is the result of chance alone or not), and the scale of how meaningful and impactful any such difference may be, in relation to a zone of tolerance indicated by the Four Fifths rule (the relative likelihood being between 0.8 and 1.25 - the shaded area). A result must be both statistically significant and of a meaningful size of impact to be of note.

See Background and methodology document for details

The relative likelihood comparison of the sanction rates between the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British ethnic group and White ethnic group showed the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British ethnic group claimants being 1.03 times as likely (3% more likely) than White claimants to be sanctioned in November 2024. While this difference is statistically significant, the scale of this difference is very small, and well within the zone of tolerance indicated by the Four Fifths rule. As such this is not suggestive of an adverse impact from the small differences in outcomes observed.

The relative likelihood between the Asian/Asian British and White ethnic groups showed statistically significant comparisons of a notable effect size outside the zone of tolerance, with the Asian/Asian British ethnic group being 0.71 times as likely (29% less likely) than White claimants to be sanctioned in November 2024.

However, the Mixed/Multiple ethnic group were more likely to be sanctioned than the White ethnic group with a statistically significant difference, and a notable effect size beyond the zone of tolerance. In November 2024 Mixed/Multiple ethnic Groups claimants were 1.29 times as likely (29% more likely) than claimants in the White ethnic group to be sanctioned.

The Other ethnic group were less likely to be sanctioned than the White ethnic group with a statistically significant difference, and a notable size effect size beyond the zone of tolerance. In November 2024, Other ethnic group claimants were 0.74 times as likely (26% less likely) to be sanctioned than claimants in the White ethnic group.

Please note the Sanction Rate is the most appropriate way to make direct statistical comparisons of outcomes by ethnic group relative to the relevant caseload. This is because the sanction rate measures direct outcomes and thus enables us to make direct comparisons

5.2 Adverse sanction decisions by ethnicity

The sanction rate discussed above is a measure of claimants undergoing a sanction at a point in time. Adverse sanction decisions discussed below measure decisions made over the whole of the reference month.

The ethnic groups show consistent distribution across the time series 

UC full service: Claimants with an adverse sanction decision by Ethnicity from April 2023 to October 2024 

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

The ethnic groups show consistent distribution across the time series. 

Since April 2023, of all UC claimants receiving an adverse sanction decision, between 71% to 75% were in the White ethnic group. The Asian/Asian British group accounted for between 8% to 10%, and the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British ethnic group ranged between 8% to 10%. Claimants from the Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups ranged between 4% to 5% and the Other ethnic Group also made up between 4% to 5% throughout the available time series since April 2023.

UC Claimants with an adverse sanction decision and UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanction can be applied, grouped by ethnicities for October 2024 

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

In October 2024, 69% of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied were from the White ethnic group. In comparison to 72% of adverse sanction decisions from the White ethnic group. 

In the same month, the Asian/Asian British ethnic group accounted for 13% of claimants in UC conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied compared to 10% of adverse sanction decisions. 

The Black/African/Caribbean/Black British ethnic group had 8% of claimants in UC conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied in October 2024 and 8% of the UC claimants with an adverse sanction decision.  

In the same month, the Mixed/Multiple ethnic group accounted for 4% of claimants in UC conditionality regimes compared to 5% in adverse sanction decisions. 

Finally, the Other ethnic group had 6% claimants in UC conditionality regimes compared to 5% in adverse sanction decisions.  

Also note that the sum of percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.  

6. Benefit sanction durations

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

The sanction rate and the durations calculations are measured differently. 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. Whereas sanction durations show the length of sanctions that have completed in the month they ended. 

For details of the sanction rate and duration methodology and their data limitations, refer to the background and methodology documents. 

6.1 UC: Length of completed sanctions 

There were 22,000 completed sanctions in the ‘over 4 weeks to 13 weeks’ duration band in November 2024 

The number of completed sanctions by sanction duration bands, January 2017 to November 2024 

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

The graph shows that, in each month since July 2021, the largest number of completed sanctions is in the over 4 weeks to 13 weeks band. 

In November 2024 there were 22,000 completed sanctions for a duration of over 4 weeks to 13 weeks. Since April 2022 there has been an overall incline for this duration band, although numbers have fluctuated between a low of 17,000 (February 2023) and a high of 26,000 (March 2024). 

The number of completed sanctions lasting under 4 weeks has been gradually increasing overall during the last 12 months. In November 2023 there were 14,000 completed sanctions increasing to 20,000 completed sanctions in November 2024. 

In November 2024, the 13 to 26 weeks duration band has 3,600 completed sanctions, compared to 4,700 in the same month last year.  

The over 26 weeks duration band had 4,100 completed sanctions in November compared to 3,500 in November 2024. 

There were a higher number of completed sanctions in all the sanction duration bands in the months after the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to the months before. 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. (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). 

Sanctions with a duration over 26 weeks accounted for 7.3% of all completed sanctions in the latest month, November 2024 

The number of completed sanctions by sanction duration bands, January 2017 to November 2024 

 

Source: Benefit Sanction statistics data tables 

Of the 49,000 completed sanctions in November 2024, 7.3% were of a duration of over 26 weeks (3,500 completed sanctions). The proportion has fluctuated between 7.3% and 11.4% over the last 12 months. 

In November 2024, 85.3% of the completed sanctions were within the duration bands of up to 4 weeks (20,000 completed sanctions) and over 4 weeks to 13 weeks (22,000 completed sanctions) out of a total of 49,000 completed sanctions. This has increased from August 2024, where 82.3% of completed sanctions were in either the 4 weeks and under (16,000 completed sanctions) and over 4 weeks to 13 weeks (22,000 completed sanctions) bands out of a total of 47,000 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 85.1% 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. 

7. Sanction destinations 

It has been decided to remove UC live service decisions, reasons and destinations from the current and future statistical releases, as the UC live service data has been frozen. Releases published before May 2024 will contain the frozen data for UC live service. 

8. 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. 

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (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 with any comments about how we meet these standards, by email: epass.team@dwp.gov.uk 

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

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 Official Statistics 

Read about other 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 as of the February 2024 release, 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 no longer reported), 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. 

Related statistics 

Benefit Combination Statistics are included as part of the quarterly DWP benefits statistics collection, and allow users to view the combinations of benefits that people claim at a point in time for almost all benefits administered by DWP. The latest commentary release published on 13 August 2024 is updated every six months in February and August. The underlying data is updated every quarter (February, May, August and November) and can be found on Stat-Xplore. 

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 

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, Temi Olubajo, Frankie Jackson, Luke Stockham 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. 

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