Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of benefits sanctions on children in the households of those sanctioned.

Our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a key priority for this Government. The Child Poverty Taskforce has already started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025 and will continue to explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of benefit sanctions on children in the households of those that have been sanctioned.

The Department records information on the number of children living in Universal Credit (UC) households as part of the official Universal Credit Statistics. The Department also records information on the number of people on UC who have received a sanction as part of the official Benefit Sanctions Statistics. These statistics are produced using different methodologies, therefore information on the number of children living in households subject to a UC sanction is not readily available.