The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been sanctioning Universal Credit (UC) claimants to save money according to Birmingham Live.
The department has been using financial penalties for instances where it believes claimants have broken rules.
This includes imposing penalties when people have missed a jobcentre appointment, for example.
However, in at least one case, the DWP has sent appointment letters to an incorrect address - meaning a claimant missed an appointment.
Another sanction was imposed on a claimant who missed two appointments with a work coach, despite evidence from a doctor that they were too unwell to attend.
Vulnerable claimants
A crane driver lost his job and was forced to eat from bins and steal from supermarkets due to a UC error.
Ryan Webb said his local jobcentre halted his UC payments after he failed to turn up for a meeting - even though they only sent details of the appointment a month after it was supposed to take place.
But the DWP insists its deductions are designed to protect vulnerable claimants from falling into poverty.
Those on the new benefit face also face cuts to their payments to pay back arrears such as overdue rent, utility bills and council tax.
Figures show that more than half of Universal Credit claimants have had their payments cut.
It was revealed earlier that 532,000 Universal Credit claimants had some of their payments deducted in October 2018.
Six thousand claimants had reductions of 40 per cent of their allowance or more, while 129,000 claimants had deductions of between 31 and 40 per cent.
The way in which debts are reclaimed is also having an impact on local authorities.
Councils are now finding it more difficult to recover some of the cash they are owed - such as unpaid council tax - because it has moved further down the DWP's list of debt recovery priorities.
In many cases, people are already paying back the maximum amount in deductions and so these other debts cannot be recovered.
