Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants in employment have been sanctioned in the most recent three-month period for which data is available.

Universal Credit provides us with the opportunity to support people to progress, and we are building the evidence about what works, most substantially through a large-scale Randomised Control Trial (RCT).

This trial tests different degrees of in-work support and conditionality by supporting people to progress by providing work coach support and setting mandatory requirements to make sure that individuals take reasonable action that should help them to earn more where appropriate.

The following link provides figures for the data collected so far on sanctions for in work claimants:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/in-work-progression-trial-update-april-2015-to-october-2016

This shows that up to November 2016, 319 sanctions had been applied to 15,455 trial participants, approximately 2%.

Further statistical information regarding the number of sanctions and suspensions for in-work claimants within the randomised control trial will be published in summer 2018.