Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is his Department’s policy to remove sanctions from Universal Credit claimants who were wrongly awarded a benefit due to an administration error.

The DWP has taken significant steps to ensure the accuracy of benefit payments and the vast majority of benefit expenditure is paid correctly.

The question is difficult to answer without the specifics of any individual case but the broad policy is as follows:

Where overpayments do occur, Section 105 of The Welfare Reform Act 2012, amending the Social Security Act 1992 (Section 71ZB), states that any overpayment of Universal Credit, new style JSA or ESA in excess of entitlement, is recoverable.

If the claim is subsequently found to be invalid due to administrative error, then the entirety of the claim is removed, and any sanction imposed would be removed.

A sanction can only be applied if entitlement to benefit has been established and if the claimant has failed to meet their agreed requirements or failed to take up or stay in employment without good reason.