The Work Programme provider raises the referral but it is only a Decision Maker at the DWP who can impose a sanction. There are different types of Decision Maker (DM), a payment DM who makes decisions about the entitlement and Labour Market DM who decides if a claimant is available and looking for work, whether they had a good reason for leaving work voluntarily and the like. The Labour Market DM also makes the decisions about sancrions so it would be a Labour Market DM that sanctioned you. It may be that the person you spoke to wasn't clued up about the Labour Market side so assumed the provider made the decision. Best thing to do is 'phone up the DWP on Monday, tell them you want a call back about the decision and when they 'phone back, go into as much detail as possible. Tell them where you were and at what time the incident happened and how long it took to sort it out. If you would have been able to attend on time if it had not been for something outwith your control, a sanction should not be imposed. It goes in your favour that you 'phoned the provider before the appt so if you can, tell the DWP what time you 'phoned and who it was you spoke to (if known) as it's all extra proof.