Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report entitled The sanctions surge: Shining a light on the universal credit sanctions regime, published in March 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that people in the North East are over 30 per cent more likely to be sanctioned than someone in the South West; and what steps he is taking to ensure that sanctions are applied consistently.

The claimant commitment is agreed between the claimant and the work coach, and it is based on the claimant’s particular circumstances

Where a referral for a sanction is made, an independent Decision Maker will fully consider the claimant’s individual circumstances and look at any evidence of good reason before determining whether a sanction should be applied.