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<p>Information on 1) deductions and 2) fraud penalties for Universal Credit are provided in the tables below.</p><p> </p><p>Table 1: Number of households with a Universal Credit Claim subject to at least one deduction, broken down by deduction type; the number of households with a deduction as a proportion of all universal credit households; what the total sum of deductions was; how much on average was deducted, in the 2022-23 financial year.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>2022/23</p></td><td><p>Number of distinct UC claims</p></td><td><p>Proportion of Universal Credit Claims subject to Deduction</p></td><td><p>Total Amount Deducted</p></td><td><p>Average Deduction Amount</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Claims with deduction for an advance</p></td><td><p>2,400,000</p></td><td><p>38%</p></td><td><p>£690,000,000</p></td><td><p>£40</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Claims with deduction for third party</p></td><td><p>950,000</p></td><td><p>15%</p></td><td><p>£227,000,000</p></td><td><p>£33</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Claims with other deductions</p></td><td><p>2,200,000</p></td><td><p>34%</p></td><td><p>£684,000,000</p></td><td><p>£49</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>All UC claims with at least one deduction</p></td><td><p>3,500,000</p></td><td><p>55%</p></td><td><p>£1,601,000,000</p></td><td><p>£62</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>All UC claims</p></td><td><p>6,400,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Table 2: Number of households with a Universal Credit Claim subject to at least fraud penalty; the number of households with a fraud penalty as a proportion of all universal credit households; what the total sum of fraud penalties was; the average fraud penalty, in the 2022-23 financial year.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="5"><p>Table 2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Number of distinct UC claims in the 2022-23 Financial Year</p></td><td><p>Number of households with at least one fraud penalty in the 2022-23 Financial Year</p></td><td><p>Households with at least one fraud penalty as a proportion of all UC households</p></td><td><p>Total amount of Fraud Penalties across the 22/23 financial year</p></td><td><p>Average Fraud Penalty Amount for those households with a fraud penalty</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6,400,000</p></td><td><p>330</p></td><td><p>0.01%</p></td><td><p>£65,000</p></td><td><p>£200</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>1. Average deduction amounts have been rounded to the nearest £1 and proportions have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. Fraud penalty reduction amounts are rounded to nearest £10 and proportions to the nearest 0.01 percentage point.</p><p>2. Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p>3. "Advances" include all four UC advance types: New Claim, Benefit Transfer, Budgeting and Change of Circumstances.</p><p>4. The table includes the number of distinct Universal Credit households subject to a deduction in the period 2022-2023. Any household with deductions in more than one assessment period within the period requested will only be counted once. Where a household has multiple deductions in the same assessment period, these figures provide the total of all deductions taken.</p><p>5. The table includes the number of distinct Universal Credit households subject to a fraud penalty in the period 2022-2023. Any household with fraud penalty in more than one assessment period within the period requested will only be counted once. Where a household has multiple fraud penalties in the same assessment period, these figures provide the total of all fraud penalties taken.</p><p>6. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.</p><p>7. This method for calculating the proportion is different to the usual reported figure which looks at a given month and historically has been around 45% for all UC households. See PQ UIN: <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-10-17/203044" target="_blank">203044.</a></p><p>8. Households could have more than one deduction type so adding claims by deduction type may not sum to the total of all deductions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Information on 2) reductions due to sanctions is provided below</p><p> </p><p>Monthly statistics for April 2022 to March 2023, on the number of Universal Credit full service claimants with a payment that has been reduced due to a sanction, are published on Stat-Xplore, and are shown in the following table.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p>UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied by month and sanction indicator from April 2022 to March 2023</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sanction indicator</p></td><td><p>Yes</p></td><td><p>No</p></td><td><p>Total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2022</p></td><td><p>106,172</p></td><td><p>5,439,955</p></td><td><p>5,546,129</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2022</p></td><td><p>108,969</p></td><td><p>5,432,866</p></td><td><p>5,541,837</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2022</p></td><td><p>110,438</p></td><td><p>5,450,340</p></td><td><p>5,560,774</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2022</p></td><td><p>117,527</p></td><td><p>5,502,514</p></td><td><p>5,620,041</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2022</p></td><td><p>114,874</p></td><td><p>5,546,078</p></td><td><p>5,660,952</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2022</p></td><td><p>117,671</p></td><td><p>5,566,557</p></td><td><p>5,684,229</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2022</p></td><td><p>122,293</p></td><td><p>5,608,895</p></td><td><p>5,731,191</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2022</p></td><td><p>117,397</p></td><td><p>5,639,386</p></td><td><p>5,756,783</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2022</p></td><td><p>119,744</p></td><td><p>5,660,360</p></td><td><p>5,780,103</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2023</p></td><td><p>118,395</p></td><td><p>5,681,209</p></td><td><p>5,799,601</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2023</p></td><td><p>113,352</p></td><td><p>5,722,976</p></td><td><p>5,836,324</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2023</p></td><td><p>120,086</p></td><td><p>5,733,100</p></td><td><p>5,853,189</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a>, Department for Work and Pensions</p><p>Notes:</p><ol><li>The sanction indicator for claimants can take the following values: Yes - Claimants payment is being reduced due to a sanction; No - Claimants payment is not being reduced due to a sanction.</li><li>Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.</li><li>Statistics for Universal Credit Sanctions relate to the second Thursday of each month.</li><li>These statistics include those sanctions which subsequently go on to be overturned. Claimants whose sanction is overturned will be repaid any deduction.</li></ol><p> </p><p>The information requested for average and total amount of benefit reduced due to sanction is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Information for part 3) suspensions is not readily available and to provide these would be at disproportionate cost.</p> |