Thread by @EwanGurr

Week 1/52: When a young single lady with no family is made redundant, applies for Universal Credit three weeks before Christmas and uses her first payment in January to repay a loan she took out to pay for the Christmas dinner she ate alone #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 2/52: When a single mum loses her leg in a car accident, forcing her to give up her third floor tenancy and her three children have to move in with gran, while she spends over a year in a homeless unit waiting for suitable accommodation
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 3/52: When a working father on a low income arrives at the foodbank looking for cereal when the head teacher tells him his two girls were struggling to concentrate at school because they said there was no breakfast in the house
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 4/52: When a man who was sanctioned has not eaten for five days, walks two extra miles to sign on following the closure of his nearest Job Centre, collapses as soon as he arrives and security call the police instead of an ambulance
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 5/52: When a lady who has given up trying to secure employment and is sleeping rough in a car park states the biggest barrier to gaining work was a recurring question at job interviews about a conviction for stealing food to avoid starvation
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 6/52: When a self-employed welder has difficulty securing new work, closes his business, spends 18 months signing on for JSA and gives up the family home because he is unable to keep up the mortgage repayments before, finally, taking his own life
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 7/52: When a mum living only on pasta has to ask her former partner if their little girl can stay a few extra nights at his house to ensure she gets a proper meal because she is still in the process of appealing a benefit sanction #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 8/52: When a young lad with a severe digestive disorder gives up work, transfers from JSA to UC only to receive £9 in month two of his claim plunging him into arrears as he starts to book into local meetings where lunches are provided to survive #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 9/52: When a first time mum who intended to breastfeed because it is more cost effective than buying formula, is devastated when told by her GP that her calorie intake, following a recent sanction, is too low for her to produce milk #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 10/52: When a young man, unemployed for two years after graduating from university, turns down a job at Amazon because he is uncomfortable with working on a zero hours contract and is sanctioned for refusing "a viable employment opportunity" #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 11/52: When an infirm lady only three years from retirement and recently made redundant, has to stop for breath on the way to her job centre appointment, arrives three minutes late and is sanctioned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 12/52: When a young lady in receipt of Universal Credit, while caring for her younger sister with cerebral palsy, is sanctioned for taking her to a hospice appointment at same time she was meant to sign on because DWP refused to move the meeting #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 13/52: When a young woman with no family spends three week's worth of Universal Credit on a train and a hotel to attend a job interview in a town four hours from home and she has to survive on water for six days after until her next payment #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 14/52: When a lady on Jobseeker's Allowance has to appeal a benefit sanction for missing her appointment to sign on at the Job Centre because she was in hospital having had a heart attack #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 15/52: When a disabled lady arrives at the foodbank in her mobility scooter, having been deemed fit for work because she "has full use of her hands", and she nervously asks if there are any fuel vouchers so she can charge her scooter #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 16/52: When a single dad calls the DWP to reschedule his appointment to sign on so he can attend his daughter's Easter play at school and is told they will not reschedule it and if he does not attend the existing one he may be sanctioned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 17/52: When a single man working 9 to 5 Monday to Friday takes a day of annual leave so he can reach the foodbank during operating hours and thanks volunteers for ensuring he will be able to eat until his next pay packet in 10 days time #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 18/52: When a mum is surviving on biscuits and water, after her husband is sanctioned for failing to appear at an appt he was not notified of, and she becomes too undernourished to produce milk to breastfeed her newborn son #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 19/52: When a young mum, sanctioned for misplacing her log book, sends her six year old daughter to stay with dad for a month to ensure she gets fed while mum stays at home with heating off and lights out until payments are reinstated #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 20/52: When a man with type two diabetes is referred by his GP to the foodbank because he has no food to accompany his insulin injection after having had his benefits delayed due to an administrative error #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 21/52: When a young couple relying on a delayed wage from a part-time job sit down to dinner from the foodbank and, with only five pence in the electricity meter, tell their three year old the lights will soon go out until pennies go into the bank #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 22/52: When a single lady, sanctioned for missing an appointment she was never informed about, nervously asks foodbank volunteers for extra washing up liquid saying she can also use it wash her clothes and her hair #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 23/52: When a father with two small children gives up his career to take care of his son and daughter after the death of his wife and runs out of savings, defaults on the mortgage, loses the family home and all three end up sleeping in their car #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 24/52: When a school dinner lady six months from retirement is made redundant and told she must apply online for Universal Credit despite having never used a computer. After "six months of living hell" she retires without ever receiving a payment #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 25/52: When a teenage girl with a learning disability loses her mum, and last living relative, only to be evicted from the disability-accessible home because the tenancy applied only to her deceased parent #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 26/52: When a single mum and her six year old daughter are given one week to leave their mice-infested and damp-ridden house when, without warning, their landlord increases the rent by £150 per month to maintain pace with "current market value" #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 28/52: When a family seeking asylum and with no recourse to public funds are approached by a school teacher who discovered her pupil - the family's young daughter - was eating mice bait she found because she was so hungry #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 29/52: When a mum without a computer is sanctioned for failing to do 35 hours of work search on UC at the library while her seven year old daughter is on school holidays and who, a week later, she finds eating cardboard because she is so hungry #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 30/52: When a domestic abuse survivor recovering from severe trauma and anxiety has a panic attack and collapses outside the Job Centre, getting to her appointment seven minutes late and is warned if it ever happens again, she may be sanctioned
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 31/52: When a man in receipt of DLA for severe nerve damage is called in by the Job Centre and has to sit through an uncomfortable reassessment because he is not permitted to use the disabled-accessible toilet which is "exclusively for staff" #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 32/52: When a new dad has to leave his partner and 90 minute old newborn daughter in the maternity unit to sign on having phoned the DWP and been told they will not reschedule and he may be sanctioned if he does not attend the existing appointment #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 33/52: When a couple have to wait 11 weeks for their first payment of Universal Credit due to an administrative delay and have to rely upon their young daughter's Disability Living Allowance payments to feed their entire family #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 34/52: When a little girl is upset that her mum misses her first school event, which is at the same time as she must sign on, having been told by the DWP that if she misses her existing appointment she will be sanctioned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 35/52: When a mum goes to her first meeting at the Job Centre and cannot get through the front door with a double buggy and is told she must leave her two babies at the door with the security guard to attend her appt or she will be sanctioned
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 36/52: When a lady has not received Employment and Support Allowance for 18 months because there is no wheelchair-accessible ramp at the assessment centre and she also loses access to the carer who comes to her home to wash her hair
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 37/52: When a single man on Universal Credit is entitled to approximately £317.82 for the next fortnight and has £317.82 deducted from his benefits and ends up in his local foodbank #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 38/52: When a single mum of two girls under six is put on 16 hours per week of 'work preparation' on Universal Credit and collapses tired and under nourished, ends up in hospital and receives a text on her hospital bed that she has been sanctioned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 39/52: When a young woman drops to 7 stone in weight after being sanctioned and going hungry for five weeks for failing to attend a meeting she received the notification letter for three hours after the appt was due to take place #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 40/52: When a mum, who thought her 16 year old had flu has his life support machine switched off due to meningitis, returns home from his funeral to a council letter saying 14% of her housing benefit will be deducted for the room he just vacated
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 41/52: When a young carer for a disabled mother applies for Universal Credit and is told to "downplay" his mental ill health by use of the term low mood instead of referring to chronic depression to increase his chances of a successful outcome #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 42/52: When a young man loses his father - and only relative - who was a military veteran and is informed by the Army that he will need to vacate the flat and, during his father's funeral, he receives a text message from Universal Credit #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 43/52: When a single mum who survived domestic violence applies for Universal Credit and requests a female work coach but is provided with a male who, in the busy Job Centre, exposes her history of sexual assault, attempted suicide and depression #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 44/52: When a terminally ill man gives up his job as a taxi driver after being diagnosed with a brain tumour and is refused Universal Credit because he cannot commit to 35 hours of work search each week because he undergoes daily radiotherapy #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 45/52: When a young care worker forced by his employer, alongside colleagues, to move to zero hours contract, starts to work erratic hours and struggles to pay bills before admitting having started male sex work to make ends meet #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 46/52: When a young mum with no criminal record becomes a first-time offender after stealing to provide crisps for her daughter's morning school break during the five week wait for her first Universal Credit payment #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 47/52: When a bricklayer with no laptop and no broadband is made redundant, applies for UC and is referred for a sanction before his first payment because his local library cannot block book their three computers so he can complete work search #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 48/52: When a mother of two young daughters starts work preparation on Universal Credit, pioneering a new start up, and is told by her work coach at her first meeting: "I can decide, at any point, this isn't working for us and cut your payments." #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 49/52: When a breastfeeding mum struggling to produce milk, has an unforeseen benefit delay, and is informed by her GP that she is malnourished before providing her with milk tokens to enable her to buy formula until her payment is processed #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 50/52: When a single man transfers from JSA to Universal Credit, and with only £30 to sustain him over Christmas until his first UC payment in the New Year, receives a debt collection letter from DWP for £28.73 due for payment within seven days #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 51/52: When a lady in receipt of DLA for arthritis, asthma, chronic hip pain and epilepsy is reassessed and sends the form with a doctor’s letter as well as 16 additional pages of evidence only to be awarded zero points and deducted £181 per week #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 52/52: When a new mum separated from her partner files a new benefit claim as a single person and tearfully thanks the foodbank volunteer who gives her extra formula milk to ensure her three week old son will be well fed over the festive season #StoriesBehindTheStatistics