The SNP is today highlighting further expert evidence on the \u2018devastating\u2019 impacts of sanctions on women \u2013 amidst further backing for powers over the sanctions regime to be in Scotland\u2019s hands rather than Westminster\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Ahead of this week\u2019s meeting of the Scottish Parliament\u2019s Welfare Reform Committee, a series of expert submissions have underlined the appalling impact of sanctions on single mothers, survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, disabled women and refugees in particular.<\/p>\n
Close the Gap, One Parent Families Scotland, the Fawcett Society, Inclusion Scotland, the Scottish Refugee Council, Child Poverty Action Group and the Scottish Women\u2019s Convention all submitted written evidence highly critical of the UK Government\u2019s social security cuts.<\/p>\n
Many of the organisations provided case studies of those impacted by cuts \u2013 with One Parent Families telling the story of Emma, 20, who is receiving JSA, pregnant and suffering from severe morning sickness. When she tried to reschedule her work focused interview due to being incapacitated by morning sickness, she was sanctioned for four weeks.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Women\u2019s Convention also described how one woman, who was ten minutes late for an appointment due to having to take her four year old to the toilet, was also sanctioned for four weeks, and as a result was unable to feed her children.<\/p>\n
The evidence also states that sanctions have led to some women being unable to afford to buy sanitary products.<\/p>\n
This new evidence comes as other front-line organisations have made clear to the Committee their reservations with leaving the sanctions regime under the control of the UK Government \u2013 amidst growing calls for the full devolution of powers over social security to Scotland.<\/p>\n
The SNP has previously backed calls from organisations such as Citizens Advice Scotland for a moratorium of the sanctions regime.<\/p>\n
Commenting, Clare Adamson said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is some absolutely heart-breaking evidence from front-line organisations on the appalling impact Westminster\u2019s sanctioning regime is having on vulnerable women across Scotland \u2013 and shows exactly why we need these powers in Scotland\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom single mothers to refugees, it\u2019s clear that these sanctions are hurting the very people who need help the most \u2013 and the fact that organisations who see the impact of sanctions first hand in our communities are speaking out should make people sit up and take notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SNP has already been clear that there needs to be an immediate review of the UK Government\u2019s conditionality and sanctions regime – and the DWP should not be allowed to impose any more unfair sanctions on vulnerable people while the review is ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut more than that, we need the powers to put a stop to this relentless assault on vulnerable people \u2013 and to design a new and better system.<\/p>\n
\u201cVulnerable women in Scotland can\u2019t afford to continue to have these powers callously wielded by the likes of Iain Duncan Smith \u2013 we need full powers over social security in Scotland to allow us to protect, support and empower people who need help, rather than pushing them into poverty with punitive cuts and sanctions as the Tories are continuing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The SNP is today highlighting further expert evidence on the \u2018devastating\u2019 impacts of sanctions on women \u2013 amidst further backing for powers over the sanctions regime to be in Scotland\u2019s hands rather than Westminster\u2019s. Ahead of this week\u2019s meeting of the Scottish Parliament\u2019s Welfare Reform Committee, a series of expert submissions have underlined the appalling impact of sanctions on single mothers, survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, disabled women and refugees in particular. Close the Gap, One Parent Families Scotland, the Fawcett Society, Inclusion Scotland, the Scottish Refugee Council, Child Poverty Action Group and the Scottish Women\u2019s Convention all submitted written evidence highly critical ofRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[88,104,102,105,66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":729,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}