The failing benefit sanctions system is unfairly targeting Britain’s youth
A young person in the UK has their benefits sanctioned by a Job Centre every two minutes. What a damning statistic.
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Why is there no due process in the infliction of these sanctions?
Before the present government, the worst sanctions involved docking benefits by around a tenner a week – enough to hurt badly for anyone struggling to survive on £50 to £70. And even the maximum penalty for the worst ‘offenders’ (though NOT criminals) only ran for a few weeks.
Arguably this was like finding a parking ticket tucked under your wiper.
When the heat was turned up, and sanctioning morphed into TOTAL destitution for potentially years on end, and in many cases amounting to a death sentence, particularly for the disabled or vulnerable, WHY IN GOD’S NAME WERE THE COURTS NOT INVOLVED.
A traffic warden might be allowed to issue a small fine, but they don’t have the authority to put a UK citizen away in jail for, say, three years, for parking on a double yellow.
Sanctions under IDS bear no relation to the minor penalties that were used in the past. AND THERE IS NO DUE PROCESS, as articles like this show.
For a UK citizen to be deprived of sustenance for weeks, months, and even years on end, despite NOT for having committed any criminal offence, but for having somehow displeased a two-bit clearical worker (who receives bonuses and promotions for abusing their despicable authority) ignores eventhe smallest semblance of justice.
If no human rights are violated by this bullying, it only goes to show that in coaiition Britain, WE NO LONGER HAVE ANY HUMAN RIGHTS WORTH A DAMN – or any common human decency left in our public officials. Which is terrifying.
I’m no expert, but to qualify for three years in jail, I would have thought an individual would need to commit a pretty serious crime, such as drug dealing or killing somebody (that’s if you’re a killer who DOESN’T work for the DWP or Atos).
Even a parking offence can be potentially hazardous and is antisocial. But where is the criminality deserving a potential death sentence, in failing to apply for a bogus and unsuitable vacancy, when the DWP knows full well that there are NO jobs available for most of the unemployed.
Those lucky enough to be insulated from ever needing to claim benefits or a state pension can afford to put their heads in the sand. But most people in the UK are at best a redundancy or accident away from a Kafkaesque living nightmare. And anyone with children should be concerned what will happen, because unless they can afford to support their kids for LIFE, there seen to be few opportunities beyond a lifetime of workfare slavery, even for university leavers.
[…] Originally posted on Benefit tales: Jobcentre Plus is failing young people, who are almost twice as likely to see their benefits… […]
I thought is was no secret that the young are targeted because they’re the most likely to have a parent or two to look after and feed them, no need for the JC to bother “signposting” them to a foodbank etc.