Woman in appeal win over year-long sanction
Political Correspondent A WOMAN who was left with no money for almost a year by the DWP has won her appeal against a 276-day sanction.
In November, the Evening Times reported how Margo Laird, from Tollcross, was totally dependent on her son and her sister for food and electricity after being repeatedly sanctioned.
She believed as she was sending in sick lines, she was not required to attend at Jobcentre interviews, but the DWP issued her with sanctions and stopped her cash.
Ms Laird appealed the decision and won with the tribunal deciding the DWP evidence provided for sanction was “inadequate.
She was also at risk of homelessness as her rent was not being paid and her landlord had begun legal proceedings.
She was unaware she was running up arrears as she thought her rent was still being paid with housing benefit.
Meanwhile, arrears of £900 had been accumulated over months when nothing was paid to the housing association on her behalf.
David Linden, Glasgow East SNP MP, took up her case last year and raised it once more with Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions.
He asked if she would apologise to Ms Laird for the sanction and delay in resolving her case.
The Prime Minister replied briefly: “Obviously I’m sorry to hear the case that the Honourable Gentleman has set out.
“I’m very happy to ensure that that case is properly looked into.”
Mr Linden said: “The Prime Minister’s refusal to apologise for a cruel and wrongly-applied series of sanctions exposes the complete lack of compassion in Downing Street.
“The details of this case are truly shocking yet another brutal example of this Conservative Government’s deeply damaging welfare policies.
“Here we have a woman pushed below the poverty line, reliant on food banks for survival, into rental arrears and to the brink of homelessness – all because of a litany of fundamental errors made by the DWP.”
A spokeswoman for the DWP, said: “Only a small minority of people are sanctioned, and that only happens if someone doesn’t have a good reason for falling short of their claimant commitment.
“When decisions are overturned it’s very often because new evidence is provided.”