Jun 272020
The three month suspension of conditionality and sanctions ends on 30th June. This measure was brought in by the government during the Covid-19 outbreak. No information about how they will be restarted has been forthcoming or when job centres will be re-opened. Claimants have been left both anxious and uncertain. There is now overwhelming evidence of both the serious harm that the sanctions regime inflicts on the most disadvantaged members of society and the fact that sanctions are punitive and counter-productive to the aim of getting people off benefits and into work.
Join the Scrap Universal Credit Alliance in our demands to:
#EndConditionality
#ScrapSanctions
#NoMoreBenefitDeaths
Ways you can get involved:
- Get active on social media at 12 lunchtime on 1 July using the above hashtags and directed @DWP @
justintomlinson @theresecoffey . You can find a list of findings, facts, stats and links for reference here: https://dpac.uk.net/2020/06/sanctions-findings-facts-stats-and-links/ - Write to your MP asking them to put pressure on the government not to restart conditionality and sanctions. Please let us know any responses that you get.
- We encourage people to write to their MPs. You can find a template letter here: [to be added]
- Write to your local paper
- If you think you may be affected by conditionality restarting and putting your safety at risk because you still need to shield it may be worth gathering what medical evidence you have (for example if received a letter or correspondence from the NHS telling you to continue shielding until the end of July) and pro-actively sending it in to your job centre/adding it in to your Universal Credit journal. It is difficult to know what to do given the complete absence of information from the government.
