Universal Credit: Disqualification
(asked on 2nd September 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the recommendations made by the UK Statistics Agency in August 2015, what plans his Department has to extend the range of benefit sanction data available by addressing gaps in information on repeat sanctions and hardship payments alongside the development of sanction data from the universal credit system.
The sanctions publication strategy which details the approach being taken by DWP statisticians to improve the sanctions statistics being developed, which include the addition of Universal Credit sanction statistics, can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-sanction-statistics-publication-strategy
The latest release of sanction statistics within the Quarterly Statistical Summary: August 2016 includes an experimental monthly rate of claimants sanctioned and can be found (on page12) at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-statistical-summaries-2016
The related background information to support this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/monthly-rate-of-claimants-sanctioned-background-information-and-methodology
Management Information data on the number of applications and awards for hardship payments were published on 18th November 2015 and can be found at:
We will consider the regularity of future publications of hardship statistics alongside our routine prioritisation of our statistical work programme.