Reblogged from Benefit Tales:
The Citizen’s Advice Bureau has published a
report on benefit sanctions, what they are given for and how they are affecting
the people who’s benefits have been taken away (minimum period of 3 weeks,
maximum of 3 years!)
The vast majority of people receiving these sanctions had
no other source of income, and have been left destitute and with lasting long
term debt.
The number of sanctions handed out has rocketed from around 130,000
in 2009 to 2 million in the past year.
Most of the people being sanctioned are
on Job Sieekers Allowance, but there’s a sizeable minority on invalidity
benefits.
The report makes shocking reading and I
recommend following the link at the bottom of this article to read the whole
thing.
Here’s what some people reported as happening to them because of these
sanctions:
Most people had had to cut down on food (70%),
and/or on heating (49%) and travel (47%).
Almost a quarter of respondents had
had to ask for a food parcel.
Some respondents had been left in a very
desperate state:
Buy damaged food, market scrounge about at end
of day
Used the skip from the local shop for
food
Starved and lived off what I had. Scrounged food
from bins and only left the house after darkness fell. Had no electric or gas so
had to get ready-to-eat food. Struggled and went without nothing for 3 days with
just bread and a block of cheese that my friend kindly gave me as it was past
its sell by date.
Begged in the city.
Slept on a park bench and in empty
shed.
I stopped doing anything and have become
agoraphobic.
For those with children, it was particularly
hard to cope:
Went without meals so my son could eat. My
sanction should have been for a week but they took 8 weeks to pay me again,
despite me constantly phoning etc. I also complained and received no
reply.
And there were other adverse effects on
children:
My daughter stopped attending school. I couldn’t
afford the taxi she needed to get her there without distress and
trauma.
Other consequences of the sanction
The final survey question asked respondents for
any other comments on the effects of sanctions on them or their family. More
than 150 respondents took the trouble to complete this question, often with
extensive accounts of the serious long-term effects on their own physical and
mental health, the social and material impact of serious financial hardship, and
the adverse effects on their family’s well-being
The possibility of ending up homeless because of
rent arrears was a frequent worry:
Because my housing benefit wasn’t paid for 3
months and still hasn’t been reinstated I’m facing eviction and I’m a full time
carer to my adult son.
I’m worried housing benefit won’t be sorted in
time for my rent as this could make us all homeless yet again and the council
have no homes. Last time we were homeless was a result of fleeing domestic
violence and me and my five children were put in B&B by the council in two
rooms.
Several people said they had been unable to
leave the house because of lack of money:
It’s all getting too much. We are now prisoners
in our home, no point going out, can’t buy or do anything
The anxiety created by the imposition of a
sanction had a serious effect on mental health for many people. A number of
people described feeling suicidal because of the stress of the situation and
several said they had made suicide attempts. For those with pre-existing mental
health problems the effect of the sanction was to exacerbate their
condition:
I suffer from severe mental depression and this
has definitely not helped my condition. Still currently without any money even
though I am doing full time work experience and not sure how I am going to eat
until the sanction is lifted.
I was on ESA due to a nervous breakdown in 2009
and have not been given even the slightest chance of recovery as I have had this
constant & losing battle with DWP/ATOS ever since. I stay with a friend who
feeds me, but have been suicidal for a long while now. I have now given up
completely on claiming any benefits at all, as I can no longer face the prospect
of the never-ending challenges. I have absolutely no hope left in me at
all.
I had no income, and had to borrow from my
parents (who are also on benefits and don’t get much income. It has affected me
mentally, and I am severely depressed and having anxiety attacks which I have
never had before becoming a jobseeker! I believe this is going to affect me in
the long run, and I will find it difficult when I do find work, because I am now
petrified of speaking to people. I was very confident and bubbly before I became
a jobseeker, now I tend not to leave my house unless necessary.
I wasn’t long out of a safe house for domestic
abuse I tried to commit suicide and my doctor had to put my medication up and I
have to get someone to collect them weekly.
For others there had been effects on their
physical health, because of lack of money for an adequate diet or because of
stress, or both:
I had to ask my mum to help me with my gas and
electric and wasn’t able to fed myself properly and [that] didn’t help as I have
coeliac and my family were appalled that I had to live like that for 4 weeks. My
health suffered because of it.
I’ve lost over 2 stone in weight through lack of
food.
The stress has made me physically sick with
irritable bowel syndrome, which I haven’t suffered with for many years. I have
previously battled depression and am hoping I won’t end up back on
antidepressants again.
I am a type 1 diabetic and I ended up being
hypoglycaemic several times.
We couldn’t afford a meal each day so often
didn’t eat for days on end. I suffer with hypoglycaemia and need to eat, so this
left me with many black outs, confusion, incredibly weak and sick.
I lost weight and got ill. I felt like a
scavenging wild animal, not like a human. It’s a miracle I didn’t end up
homeless.
The sanction had wider impacts on family
relationships in some cases:
My mum has been taken to court and fined for not
being able to pay the shortfall in council tax and is struggling to pay the rent
arrears accrued when I was sanctioned and the strain has quite literally smashed
our family to pieces – I feel like a burden on her and have felt suicidal on
more than one occasion.
The stress put us both in hospital with
stress-related problems. We were refused hardship payments but later got this
[revoked] because we went to CAB and Shelter. It had a massive effect on our
son, who at one point was being considered for going into care because we
couldn’t provide for him.
My partner also cares for me so he was left
incredibly stressed and upset from this situation due to firstly no money (he
has to look after me full time pretty much) and secondly my conditions and
mental state became so hard to cope with (it also affected his mental health, he
attempted suicide when he could not cope).
At 52 years of age I lost my home and my 21
year-old son, who has had to move in with his girlfriend’s family. We are both
sofa-surfing with absolutely no hope for a future of any kind…I stay with a
friend who feeds me, but have been suicidal for a long while now. I have been
kicked out of my mother’s household due to being sanctioned and I’m now
homeless.
This had a devastating effect. I am separated so
couldn’t have my children as couldn’t afford the bus fare to travel for
them.
For those living with children, the effects of
the sanction were particularly hard:
It was so difficult. Had no gas or electric.
Sent my children to my mum’s 5 out of the 7 days of the week.
For nearly a month I didn’t get any money before
I got hardship [payment]…At this time I was pregnant with my daughter and had
another 2 kids in the house…If it wasn’t for my child tax credits and borrowing
money I wouldn’t have been able to feed myself. We done without heating during
the winter because I couldn’t afford to pay for gas.
I went begging on the streets to get money to
buy food as my partner is 7 months pregnant
Many respondents wrote at considerable length
about their feeling that they had been very unjustly treated.
Whilst I was on the sanction I visited jobcentre
on 3 different occasions to ask how I was to live on no money for 4 weeks? On
each occasion I was told there was nothing they could do. I later found out that
the correct procedure was to give me a hardship form to help me out. I
eventually got the form and handed it in.
The jobcentre have since rejected the
claim as it was handed in too late. I sent in 3 reconsideration requests
explaining the jobcentre was at fault for not telling me I could claim this and
again all 3 requests denied…I feel the jobcentre have deceived me to avoid
paying out money.
A number felt that the limitations which their
ill-health placed on their ability to work, or the kinds of work they could do
had not been given adequate consideration:
I am epileptic and can’t apply for certain jobs
that’s why I am limited, I apply for 5-10 jobs that I can do, but it’s not
enough.
I can’t work, I take 23 pills a day and I’m also
diabetic, yet the group they put me on was for work? They have no right to take
money away just like that. Totally unfair, I’ve lost half a stone as I can’t buy
enough food to eat and as a diabetic I’m supposed to eat 5 small meals a day. No
chance. As I don’t, I’m open to foot infection, eyesight problems, coma or death
or amputation. I’m worried sick. Also stress brings on a relapse of other
condition.
There were numerous complaints from respondents
that they had not been told about the sanction, and had only discovered when
they found their money had stopped, that they didn’t understand the reasons for
the sanction or that the sanction had been imposed unreasonably, given their
circumstances.
I believe it was the Work Programme that had
been in the wrong in the first instance for not reimbursing claimants travel
expenses when they should be, yet I was the one punished for not attending 1
hour of job search when I couldn’t afford to go.
The original sanction letter made no sense and I
couldn’t understand it at all either. It didn’t give any dates as to when or IF
the sanction would end.
I had no idea I had been sanctioned until I got
a letter from the housing association stating that my housing/council tax
benefit had been stopped due to suspension of JSA which I wasn’t even
claiming
In other cases the injustice stemmed from poor
administration which led to a sanction being imposed when the claimant was not
in any way at fault:
I was sanctioned for not supplying information
regarding my job search. The forms I was given did not ask for [this]
information.(The wrong paper work was given) My paper file was ‘lost’ during the
appeal process, and was ‘found’ in secure waste awaiting shredding, My file (the
one being destroyed) contained information that refuted the validity of the
sanction.
I was sanctioned by the DWP on their error. They
never changed my address when I sent in a change of address form. They later
admitted it was completely their fault and an admin error. They left me without
payments for six months and didn’t reply to a single letter and they wouldn’t
speak to me on the phone as they held old details for me.
Respondents felt that it was unfair that the
expectations with which they had to comply did not apply to the agencies they
had to deal with:
The sanction was so annoying. A4E missed three
appointments. When I attended they said to go home. But I miss one appointment
and get sanctioned.
The sanction I got was for not attending
triage…It was them that mucked up the dates and I was the one that paid for
their mistake.
Read the whole report here:
https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CB5ED957FE0B849F!350&app=WordPdf&authkey=!AJTbB-gzwsSCayQ
