It’s offensive and it’s an affront to my family’s dignity. All I can see is that things will get worse & worse
SINGLE mum Dawn Peart and her two young children are under attack by the Tory Government.
She couldn’t possibly afford to feed and clothe a third child if the Tories have their way.
Dawn 26, was a trainee accountant but had to sacrifice her career aspirations to give 24-hour care to her disabled son Lochlan, four, who suffers regular epileptic seizures.
And she knows a cap on housing benefit will cripple her if she tries to move from her two-bedroom home into something suitable for her, Lochlan and his big sister Mirren, seven.
Despite already scraping to get by, Dawn faces the regular humiliation of justifying herself to Jobcentre Plus – where staff try to force her to find work for the two hours a day Lochlan attends nursery.
Mirren has kidney disease but she has been told by the DWP that she won’t qualify for meaningful benefits until she has renal failure and needs dialysis.
A few years ago, the Dickensian UK that is emerging would have been hard to take seriously. But it is fast becoming a reality for people like Dawn, from Maryhill, Glasgow.
Dawn said: “I have a son who has been awarded the highest level of care until 2025 but I still have to attend the Jobcentre Plus, where people are being pressured to make me justify every minute of my day
“It’s disgusting and it’s an affront to my family’s dignity but I know lots of people get it worse than me. All I can see for the three of us in the coming years is that things will get worse and worse.
“I would like my son and daughter to have their own bedroom but I’m already having to top up my private rent housing benefit every month by nearly £40. And that comes from benefits I desperately need. On top of that there is a freeze on benefits that takes no account of the way the cost of living is going through the roof.
“They are telling me I need to find work but I’m not on benefits by choice. The situation is desperate and there needs to be something done.”
Dawn met other single parents yesterday in
Maryhill as Scottish Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman claimed the Tory cuts will strip £200million from Scotland’s welfare budget.
The cuts which came into force yesterday also include cutting payments for widowed parents and a reduction in support some people with work-limiting disabilities or health conditions can claim. A cap on child tax credits means anyone with two or more children loses out for any more children, unless an exception applies.
Freeman said the cap will be mitigated in Scotland after a decision not to include it within the council tax reduction scheme, which cuts council tax for those on low incomes. She said: “It’s heartbreaking to witness the effects of these Tory policies on parents who only wish to bring up their families in dignity.
“It is a shameful with no clear rationale and it has gone through with no debate in Parliament despite the best efforts of Scottish MPs to force that debate.
“The Scottish Government approach is very different to that of the UK Government, who look to the poor, the disabled, to children and single parents to pay for funding gaps elsewhere. People should be treated with dignity, fairness and respect.
“We are doing what we can. We are maintaining our approach of council tax reduction, so that won’t be capped at two children. We have committed to additional childcare, free school meals, to increasing support for school uniform.
“We’re doing everything we can, within the constraints of our powers, to mitigate the effects of the UK Government cuts.
“But I would rather spend that money on taking children out of poverty than sticking an elastoplast on what the UK Government are doing.”
Satwat Rehman, director of One Parent Families Scotland, said: “The changes will put a terrible burden on families across Scotland.
“It is Westminster Government action – rather than merely inaction – that is actively driving down the life chances of single parents and their children.”