Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

(asked on 4th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps to support academic research on the impact of social security sanctions on the mental health of recipients.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 9th March 2022

The Department have made no assessment of the impact of social security sanctions on the mental health of recipients. The Department supports research on a range of areas and will consider each project or application on its merit.

Sanctions are only applied where a claimant fails to comply with a mandatory requirement set out in their claimant commitment such as a failure to attend an appointment. 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 reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.

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