The number of people forced to claim hardship payments to cope with Universal Credit sanctions has rocketed as the cost of living crisis deepens, openDemocracy can reveal.
Benefit claimants can be sanctioned – which means their Universal Credit (UC) payments are reduced – for missing job centre appointments or not meeting the job-hunting demands set out by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
These sanctions are increasingly leaving people unable to afford rent, heating, food or hygiene needs, forcing many to apply for a discretionary hardship payment from the DWP.
