Department For Work And Pensions have clawed back £13,000 in benefits from Gordon constituency, learns MP Richard Thomson
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Gordon MP Richard Thomson has condemned the UK Government, after fresh figures have revealed the benefit sanctions forcing struggling households into destitution.
The figures, obtained from the UK Department for Work and Pensions, show that in August 2022 alone the DWP took £2,300,000 off claimants in Scotland, with £13,000 taken from households in Gordon Constituency at an average of £273 per month for every sanctioned household.
Mr Thomson called the benefit sanctions ‘counter-productive’, ‘undermining’ the Scottish Government’s own social security agenda.
Commenting, Mr Thomson said: “In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it’s unjustifiable for the UK Government to continue the clawback of much needed funds from struggling north-east households.
"An average of £273 per month for every sanctioned household may seem like small beer to a government who wastes billions at the drop of a hat, but to hard up families it’s massive.
"It’s a damning statement on how little the Conservatives care about the struggles of ordinary people.
“Social security means investing in people and communities, and building them up - not tearing them down.
"Scotland has taken a different, more progressive approach with our limited social security powers, uprating benefits in line with inflation and increasing the Scottish Child Payment - work from which the UK Government could learn.
“However, that work remains at risk and is ever-undermined while we remain attached to the broken Westminster system at the mercy of a callous government – demonstrating once again why households in every community across the north-east desperately need a compassionate social security system which will only come with control of our own affairs.”
