A SAFETY net with huge holes in it is a disturbing but accurate description of the current state of Britain’s social security system.
We make no apology for returning to a subject whose gravity has been overshadowed by Brexit’s domination of the headlines. Today, we report on a dossier of cases presented to MSPs by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), including a mother in an abusive relationship ending up homeless with her disabled son, and another parent with five children having her housing benefit cut to 50p a week.
CPAG says women and children are forced to remain in abusive situations because leaving would mean starving. Another report, from Citizens Advice Scotland, blames Universal Credit for increased numbers of people desperately seeking help after falling behind with rent.
Scottish Women’s Aid, meanwhile, says women who do leave abusive relationships find themselves in temporary accommodation with “absolutely nothing” to their names. A spokeswoman said: “I am not sure a lot of society understands this is what’s happening. The public think there is some kind of safety net but it has really big holes in it.”
Something has gone seriously awry here, and it started before Universal Credit with the ruthless deployment of sanctions that, at times, seemed out of control. People weren’t falling through the safety net. They were being pushed through it. Now comes Universal Credit, the transition to which is characterised by the same cold, hard, inhumane decisions. But it’s not just about the inflexible mechanics of an ill-thought-out system. It’s about the ethos that now dominates our welfare state, originally set up out of compassion and common decency but now seemingly a system that punishes people for falling into circumstances beyond their control.
This cannot go on. It’s time to put compassion and common decency back at the centre of our welfare system – and to provide a safety net through which no one falls.
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