* Bartley: ‘Sanctions place people on work related benefits at very real risk of absolute poverty’
Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, has called for an end to benefit sanctions after research by Oxford University found a strong link between increased sanctioning and higher foodbank use [1].
Bartley said:
“People on work related benefits already have to survive on a pittance and this research provides clear evidence that sanctions place them at very real risk of absolute poverty.
“The Government must commit to scrapping sanctions immediately so fewer people are forced to rely on food banks to survive.
“In the long term, we must seriously examine the case for a basic income, a universal payment to all people, which would get rid of the need rely on a food bank again.”
Notes: