Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sanctions have been made against claimants in Liverpool Walton constituency in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.
The available information on Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support and Universal Credit sanction decisions by parliamentary constituency is published and can be accessed at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring the support that we give, and any conditionality requirements to the specific circumstances of the individuals.
We take a number of steps to make sure our decisions are fair. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good cause, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted. We have a well-established system of hardship payments, available as a safeguard if a claimant demonstrates that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs, such as accommodation, heating, food and hygiene, as a result of their sanction.