The number of universal credit claimants who were hit with a sanction reached a record high in October 2024, raising doubts over Labour’s willingness to support rather than punish claimants.
According to official statistics, there were 61,527 adverse sanction decisions in October 2024, the highest number ever recorded. The previous highest was in January 2024, when 57,192 claimants were sanctioned.
In November 2024, 5.5% of UC claimants who were in the conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, were subject to a sanction. This is down by 0.1% from August 2024.
Failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for over 90% of all sanctions.
Sanction figures by month for 2024, up to October, the most recent month for which statistics are available, are as follows:
Jan 57,192
Feb 49,488
March 51,091
April 49,986
May 48,672
June 46,969
July 54,368
Aug 49,554
Sept 55,675
Oct 61,527
Many claimants had hoped that Labour would immediately introduce a less punitive regime when they took control of the DWP. However, figures for their first few months in office suggest that little has changed so far.
