No cash for mother who was late by 10 minutes

A MOTHER was left with no cash for four weeks after benefits sanctions were applied because she was 10 minutes late for an appointment, MSPs have been told.

The charity Barnardo’s Scotland said the woman, from Fife, had been delayed because she had to take her young child to the toilet during the journey.

It revealed details of the case, which it said was “not an unusual example”, in a submission to MSPs on Holyrood’s Welfare Reform Committee, which is looking at how changes to the benefits system affect women.

The charity is now calling for special provisions to be applied when those with children are sanctioned, so that they can still provide for their family.

With Holyrood due to get some responsibility over welfare as a result of the Smith Commission on further devolution, Mark Ballard, head of policy at Barnardo’s Scotland, said: “New powers over employment support should be used to mitigate some of the worst impacts of conditionality and sanctions.” He added: “Sanctions should only be used as a tool of last resort, be subjected to a test of reasonableness and have safeguards built in that ensure that no-one who is the subject of a sanction is left with no money.

“It is not enough to say that benefit sanctions do not impact on children because child benefit is not withheld as part of the sanction. The experience of our services is that this is not the case.”

His submission to MSPs revealed: “One woman recently supported by our Fife service was 10 minutes late for an appointment due to an unforeseen event with one of her children (a four-year-old needing the toilet on the way to an appointment), she was sanctioned. The impact of this sanctioning for her well-being and the well-being of her family was devastating.”