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Welfare sanctions link to food banks

Welfare sanctions link to food banks

Around 68,000 benefit claimants are having their welfare payments stopped unfairly each year, heightening demand for food banks, a think tank claimed yesterday.

Policy Exchange said the figure related to people who have their benefits taken away for the first time, only to later successfully appeal against the decision – about a third of all those sanctioned for the first time each year.

In a report, Smarter Sanctions, it proposes the use of a benefits card for first-time offenders to ensure they still have access to funds for up to eight weeks but without being handed cash.

In exchange, tougher penalties, including the loss of the card, would be imposed on people who repeatedly break rules on job hunting.

Report author Guy Miscampbell said: “The welfare system must have a sharp set of teeth. That is why the sanctions regime is so important.

“However, it is clear there are a significant number of people who have their benefit taken away from them unfairly.

“Four weeks without any money is driving people to a reliance on food banks.”

More than a third of all councils in England and Wales are subsidising food banks, setting aside almost ÂŁ3million in recent years, according to BBC’s Panorama.

Dr David Webster, of Glasgow University, researched the UK Government’s figures on sanctions. He told Panorama there is “an undeniable link” between the tougher benefits sanctions regime and the increased use of food banks.

“Basically, people are going to be driven into destitution,” he said.

Hungry Britain? will be broadcast at 8.30pm tonight on BBC One.