Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in Universal Credit sanctions in June and July 2021; and when they plan to publish their report on the effectiveness of Universal Credit sanctions.

No assessment has been made of the increase in Universal Credit sanctions in June and July 2021. The increase is a result of the re-introduction of conditionality following its suspension at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sanctions rate remains low at 0.78%.

We do not plan to publish a report on the sanctions evaluation as we were unable to assess the deterrent effect and therefore this research doesn’t present a comprehensive picture of sanctions