Overview
A sanction reduces the amount of Universal Credit standard allowance you receive.
Your payments will be reduced by 100% of the Universal Credit standard allowance rate for each day the sanction is in place. However, if you are aged 16 or 17, or if your only responsibility is to attend appointments with us to discuss work, your payments will be reduced by 40% of the standard allowance rate for each day the sanction is in place.
If your payments are already reduced due to earnings or other income and there is not enough of your Universal Credit to take the full sanction amount, your payments will be reduced to nil and the sanction is regarded as fully applied.
If you get extra amounts on top of your standard allowance such as for children or housing costs, these will still be paid to you.
Challenging a Sanction
If you feel you have been sanctioned unfairly, you can and you should challenge it. You may be able to challenge the length of the sanction or the decision to sanction you at all.
Look at the letter or the notification in your online account telling you about the sanction. It should tell you how to go about challenging the decision. It should also include the reason for your sanction, how long it will last and how much money is being stopped. If not, ask for that information. There may be more than one letter about the sanction so make sure you have all the information you need, and ask the Jobcentre for it if they haven’t supplied it.
Ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of being given the sanction if you can.
If you miss the one month deadline you can and should still ask for a mandatory reconsideration. But you should give reasons for requesting it after the deadline. A good reason might be that you didn’t understand that you could challenge the decision until today, or that you needed someone’s help and didn’t get that until now, or that being sanctioned had such a serious impact on your mental health you were not capable of asking for a mandatory reconsideration earlier.
Once the DWP has made their decision you will get a notice telling you the result.
You should get a response within 8 weeks. However, there is no deadline by which the DWP need to respond to mandatory reconsideration requests. If you have not heard back after 8 weeks, you should email the Jobcentre plus service leader – Hamera Ahmad hamera.ahmad@dwp.gov.uk
Appealing a Sanction
You can appeal If the DWP officer didn’t change their decision after you submitted a mandatory reconsideration.
You need to send your appeal within one month, if you can. If one month has already passed you can still ask for an appeal if you have good reasons for the delay.
When you appeal, an independent panel look at the DWP’s decision to see if the right decision was made and change it if it was not. They do not work for the DWP. The independent panel is organised by the Court service (HMCTS).
There are two ways you can appeal. You use the form SSCS1 to ask for an appeal. Or, you can also submit your appeal online. Both are easy-to-use and understand. If you use the online version a record of what you have said gets sent to your email address.
Hardship payments
If you have been sanctioned you may be entitled to a hardship payment and may still be entitled to help with your housing costs. Hardship means severe suffering or lacking the essentials of life (food, clothes, heating and accommodation).
To claim a payment you need to call the Universal Credit helpline or go to your local Jobcentre Plus office to get an appointment where you will be asked for more information.
Hardship payments of Universal Credit usually have to be paid back, but this is up to the DWP. If you are successful in challenging the sanction decision, you will not have to repay the hardship payment.