Welfare Sanctions and Conditionality in the UK

Conditional welfare arrangements require people to behave in a certain way to access welfare goods, such as cash benefits, housing or support services. These behavioural conditions tend to be enforced through penalties or ‘sanctions’ that reduce, suspend or end access to these goods. This paper examines the efficacy and ethicality of conditional forms of welfare. It considers existing evidence about how effective welfare conditionality is at achieving and sustaining desired forms of
behavioural change; what the impacts are; how different groups fare; and to what extent welfare conditionality can be morally justified.