Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has commissioned research on the potential effect on the mental wellbeing of universal credit claimants of removing the work conditionality and sanctions regime.

We have not commissioned research on the potential mental wellbeing of universal credit claimants of removing the conditionality and sanctions regime. We engage with all of our claimants at a personal and individual level and are committed to tailoring support for specific individual needs, including agreeing realistic and structured steps to encourage claimants into or towards the labour market. These requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for every claimant. Sanctions are only ever applied where someone fails to comply with these requirements without a good reason.