DWP 'cuts or stops' Universal Credit payments for 583,790 people who claim

A warning has been issued for anyone claiming benefits as half a million have payments cut or stopped by the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ). 583,790 people were given a sanction between August 2023 and July 2024, data shows.

Hundreds of thousands of people on Universal Credit were sanctioned over 12 months. Stats show the Universal Credit sanction rate fell to 5.61% in August 2024, down by 1.5 percentage points compared to August 2023 but over 540,640 were still rapped.

Over 20,450 were penalised for choosing not to work and another 13,510 claimants had their payments changed. 7,680 were sanctioned for failing to disclose a valid reason for quitting a job, the data also goes on to show.

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Charity Citizens Advice says if you haven't done one of the activities in your claimant commitment, you could be sanctioned. This means your Universal Credit payments will be temporarily reduced. You can ask for the DWP to rethink their decision if you think you've been sanctioned unfairly.

This is called ‘mandatory reconsideration’ - the contact details will be on the letter sent to you about your sanction. You'll need to tell them why you think the sanction was wrong. You can prepare by: reading the arguments for challenging a sanction and checking if you were given the right sanction.

You'll get a letter telling you about your decision - it may be changed or you may get an explanation of why the sanction is upheld. The letter will tell you how you can appeal to a tribunal if you're still unhappy with the decision.

You should talk to your work coach about getting your claimant commitment changed if you're struggling to meet the conditions you signed up for. Make sure you tell the Universal Credit helpline of any changes in your personal circumstances straight away.