#BenefitSanctions double against #women, #disabled and lone parents New figures show the number of women, disabled people and lone parents are having benefits sanctioned almost doubled in the past four years. Lone parents say it means children are punished and that having their benefits suddenly stopped for weeks or months is #traumatic. They say it means not knowing how to buy food or pay the bills. The Department for Work and Pensions - DWP said #sanctions are only used as a last resort and can be challenged. Under recent changes to the system, claimants can have their benefits taken away for months and jobseekers allowance removed for up to three years for reasons such as missing, or being late, for job centre appointments or failing to show they are looking for work. Jeanette looks after her granddaughter on her own. Shes a kinship carer and, when she split from her husband, she started claiming benefits. She says that, when social work offered her and her granddaughter a holiday in a caravan park because of stress, she lost several weeks of her benefits. I went to the Jobcentre Plus to say I would be away for a week and wouldnt be able to come in to sign on and they said, if I was on holiday, that meant I couldnt be looking for work, so they immediately sanctioned me and stopped my benefits, she said. It was traumatic. I couldnt pay to put the heating on. It was winter. There was snow on the ground. I didnt know how I was going to feed my granddaughter. And, while all that was going on, my two sons were serving in Afghanistan. If I hadnt got help from One Parent Families Scotland, I dont know what I would have done. Marion Davis, of One Parent Families Scotland, said the system needs to be less punitive because of the impact on children and their parents.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:39:07 +0000
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