Record number of Universal Credit claimants see their benefits cut after Tory crackdown

It comes after Tory ministers forced claimants to seek more jobs or face punishment in a crackdown to work 500 000 additional people by June.

Millions of benefit claimants are transferred to Universal Credit (

Image: Getty Images)

The number of Universal Credit claimants whose benefits have been reduced or stopped has skyrocketed to a record high after a Conservative crackdown.

Almost 110,000 Britons on Universal Credit were sanctioned by the Jobcentre in May.

This figure has more than doubled in six months and now represents nearly 6% of all potential claimants, despite the cost of living crisis.

It comes after Tory ministers forced claimants to seek more jobs or face punishment in a crackdown aimed at getting 500,000 more people to work by June.

Previously, applicants could search for jobs in their "preferred industry" for three months before broadening their search. This has been reduced to four weeks under "Way to Work".

Secretary for Work and Pensions, Therese Coffey (

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Penalties also skyrocketed after the reintroduction of face-to-face meetings at the Jobcentre last summer.

The number of applicants receiving a sanction has increased from 3,827 in May 2021 to 109,506 in May 2022.

While the numbers rose steadily throughout the fall and winter, they exploded after the introduction of Way to Work in February.

Some 74,746 people were disciplined in January; in March they were 93,479 and in April 106,710.

In March alone, 59,000 new penalties were imposed on Universal Credit claimants; the highest ever recorded.

This comes after the Mirror revealed that some poor Britons were denied £326 in cost of living compensation in July because they were sanctioned.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) staff advice, seen by the Mirror, told them to deny payment to claimants whose sanction led to a 'nil award'.

People's benefits are either reduced or cut entirely if employment agencies decide they've broken the rules.

This includes if the work coaches decide that they are "not taking all reasonable steps to find gainful employment".

But Marc Francis, of poverty charity the Z2K Trust, said the sanctions were 'notoriously overzealous', and many people hit 'can't find help' to appeal .

Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said that denying people a cost-of-living payment...