Guidance

Benefit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology

Information about sanctions statistics and methodology including the purpose, source, definitions and limitations of the statistics covered.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 16 November 2016
• Last updated: 14 May 2024 — See all updates

Documents

Benefit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology

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Details

The benefit sanctions statistics provide information on the following benefits:

• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Income Support
• Universal Credit

Published 16 November 2016
Last updated 14 May 2024 + show all updates

1. 14 May 2024

   The section on the Status of the statistics has been updated. The Quality Statement has also been updated. The latest release of sanctions statistics has been published today (14 May 2024).

2. 14 November 2023

   The document has been updated throughout to show that the sanctions statistics are now classed as 'official statistics in development'. The latest release of sanctions statistics has been published today (14 November 2023).

3. 15 November 2022

   Updated Table 1: Sanction Reasons and Level - the Reason groups in the table now include 'Work Focused Interviews/Work Search Reviews/Jobseeker’s Directions'. The latest release of sanctions statistics has been published today (15 November 2022).

4. 23 February 2021

   Added information about the rounding of data in some sanction statistics tables, The latest release of sanctions statistics has been published today, 23 February 2020.

5. 11 August 2020

   Revised to support the latest release of benefit sanctions statistics, also published today (11 August 2020). Information added to the limitations of the statistics section - about how sanction decisions are recorded.

6. 14 May 2019

   Published revised version, now dated May 2019. This has been updated to support the latest release of sanctions statistics (these have data to January 2019).

7. 21 February 2018

   Published a revised version of 'Benefit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology'. The new version is dated February 2018 and has been updated to support the latest release of sanctions statistics.

8. 15 November 2017

   Published a revised version of 'Benefit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology'. The new version is dated November 2017 and has been updated to support the latest release of sanctions statistics.

9. 16 August 2017

   Published revised 'Benefit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology'. The new version is dated August 2017 and includes information on durations and the latest sanction rate graphs for JSA and ESA. Also states medical conditions for ESA claimants with a sanction decision are available on Stat-Xplore.

10. 17 May 2017

    Published a revised version of 'Benefit sanctions statistics: background information and methodology'. The new version is dated May 2017 and includes information on Income Support statistics.

11. 15 February 2017

    Published a revised version of the background information and methodology PDF - new version is dated February 2017.

12. 16 November 2016

    First published.