Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of benefit sanctions on households with children; and if he will publish the evidence base underpinning that assessment.
Answered by Dame Diana Johnson
The Department considers the impacts of conditionality and sanctions in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty, including impacts on disabled people, lone parents, young adults and households with children.
The current Universal Credit sanctions regime was introduced as part of a wider welfare reform, and a standalone Impact Assessment for sanctions was not produced. The Department did, however, publish an Impact Assessment for the introduction of Universal Credit, which set out the expected impacts of the reforms, including changes to conditionality and sanctions, across claimant characteristics and household types. This is available at:
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