Thread by @EwanGurr

Week 1/52: When a single mum on a zero hours contract applies for Universal Credit two weeks before Christmas and spends three out of the five week wait for payment with lights out, heating off and blankets on to keep her and her six year old son warm #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 2/52: When a lady fleeing a decade of domestic violence and relocated in a new location by Women's Aid applies for Universal Credit and is told at her first meeting she will not be able to claim because she left behind all evidence of her identity #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 3/52: When a young woman refuses the offer of sanitary items at a foodbank saying she has not had a period for several months having been informed by her GP earlier that day that she is undernourished due to a persistent lack of calories #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 4/52: When a blind jobseeker asks, at his first appt for UC, if he can receive letters by post in braille, then receives his first payment followed by a letter in print he cannot read requesting a meeting he does not attend and he is sanctioned
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 5/52: When a mum, appealing a benefit sanction and down to her last tin of beans, has to ask her ex partner if their six year old daughter can stay with him for the next month to ensure she gets a proper meal each night #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 6/52: When a woman living 3.5 miles from her local foodbank is awaiting her first UC payment and sets off from her home at 6am braving 80 mph winds (Storm Ciara) to get to the Saturday foodbank session btwn 10-12am. PS. A volunteer drove her home #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 7/52: When a young man in receipt of Universal Credit, and caring full-time for his disabled sister, is asked to leave her outside the front door with a security guard while he signs on because they cannot get her wheelchair through the front door #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 8/52: When a lady born in 1954, who had to work five more years after a change to pension regulations, is made redundant with six months to retirement and DWP send her on a CV production course and training to learn how to use a computer #WASPI #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 9/52: When a first-time dad discreetly informs a midwife in a maternity unit he will need to leave his fiancé, who is in early labour, for an hour to attend attend a Job Centre appt having been told he may be sanctioned if he does not attend #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 10/52: When a successful tree surgeon gives up work due to an injury, uses savings, goes to foodbank, applies for UC and waits five weeks with lights out and radiator off to pay for his daughter's karate lessons when she comes to stay at weekends
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 11/52: When a 52 year old lady walks three miles to her local foodbank, having been referred by a money advisor, and finds it shut with a notice on the front door saying they will be closed for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 12/52: When a young self-employed and single business owner running a cafe on a tight profit margin has to pay off all her staff, close her doors and spends her Friday applying for Universal Credit and making her first ever visit to a foodbank #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 13/52: When a disabled lady, at home without access to her local village store which shut after the owner contracted Covid19, does her first online shop but has to wait a week before securing a delivery and is forced to go four days without food #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 14/52: When a man who was sanctioned has not eaten for almost a week, walks two extra miles to sign on following the closure of his nearest Job Centre, collapses on arrival and security staff at DWP call the police instead of an ambulance
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 15/52: When an infirm lady three years from retirement and recently made redundant from a business that went bust, has to stop for breath on the way to her fourth job centre appointment, arrives three minutes late and is sanctioned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 16/52: When a young woman newly unemployed due to #Covid19 applies for UC and is told because of a backlog in applications it will be four weeks until her telephone appt. and at least 70 days until first payment
[Story in @Evening_Tele on Mon.] #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 17/52: When the daughter of injured bricklayer, who has no broadband and uses internet at a library shut due to Covid-19 to update his UC journal, logs in for him when he is not paid and she says reason for non-payment is failure to update journal #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 18/52: When a lady with 7p left in her purse, who usually spends days in a warm library applying for jobs and is now at home wrapped in a jumper and using tealights at night, sells her fridge so she can continue to heat her home during lockdown #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 19/52: When a man, who was sanctioned for refusing to apply for a 12 hour per week job in Ayr when he lives 140 miles away in Arbroath, tells foodbank volunteers DWP contacted him to say his sanction will be lifted during the Covid-19 outbreak
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 20/52: When a woman is in receipt of DWP new enterprise allowance for her new start up business and her husband secures part-time work, cancelling their UC claim without consultation, leaving her business and their family £400 worse off #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 21/52: When a student, who works at a golf resort each summer but cannot this year because it is closed, reluctantly applies for UC and is told that, to be eligible, he would have to give up his course in September
[Story in @Evening_Tele on Mon.] #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 22/52: When a lady, aged 94, is living at the top of a tenement block too scared to leave home for food as Scotland enters lockdown and has no one to shop for her before she goes five days without eating and is found starving at home by volunteers #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 23/52: When a single mum and NHS employee of 11 years uses a foodbank for the first time because she cannot take extra shifts and leave her girls aged 12 and 10 at home alone nor send them for food at breakfast clubs because they are all closed
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 24/52: When a first-time mum, planning to breastfeed her newborn daughter because it costs less than formula, turns up at the foodbank hoping to receive formula having been told by her midwife that she is too under-nourished to produce breast milk #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 25/52: When a family sit down to dinner and tell their five year old that, because daddy didn't get paid by his employer on time, the lights will soon go out and he can't watch Paw Patrol again until pennies put more money in the electricity meter #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 26/52: When the cooker an infirm pensioner is using to make food each night breaks down and, having resorted to eating food cold including tins of uncooked beans, she calls her local Covid support team and is told this is not a priority
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 27/52: When a father of two gives up a well-paid career as a tree surgeon to take care of his son and daughter after the death of his wife and runs out of savings, defaults on mortgage, loses the family home and all three end up sleeping in a car #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 28/52: When a self-employed mum, who does not receive an expected payslip for contract work, asks DWP if she can report expenses later than usual and is told if she does not report within the month they will close her Universal Credit claim
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 29/52: When a lady on her way to an appointment at her local Job Centre is injured by walking into a faulty automatic door on arrival and, despite receiving help from DWP staff, is sanctioned for having missed her appointment #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 30/52: When a gran, despite providing medical evidence she is disabled, has her PIP stopped and mobility car removed by the DWP before discovering she has cancer and dies four months on weighing only three stone [Story in @Evening_Tele on Mon.] #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 31/52: When a mum attending her first Job Centre appointment is unable to get her double buggy through the front door and is told she must leave her two infant children at the door with a security guard while she signs on or face a sanction
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 32/52: When a single mum of two wee ones claiming UC is put on 16 hours per week 'work preparation' by DWP, collapses malnourished at the supermarket, ends up in A&E, misses appt and receives a text on hospital bed saying she has been sanctioned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 33/52: When a frail but jovial elderly man loved by local neighbours starts to struggle during the pandemic, as friends and community workers make referrals to social services for weeks on his behalf, but by the time they respond he is found dead #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 34/52: 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 35/52: When a single mum who lost her job during the pandemic and is in receipt of Universal Credit notifies her work coach she will miss her appointment because of a job interview and is sanctioned for her entire monthly entitlement #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 36/52: 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 37/52: 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 38/52: When a single mum made redundant during the Covid-19 crisis and awaiting her first Universal Credit payment is arrested for stealing food at her local supermarket to provide for her daughter's morning playtime at school #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 39/52: When a working father on a low income arrives at the foodbank looking for cereal after the head teacher tells him his two girls were struggling to concentrate at school because they said there was no breakfast at home
#StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 40/52: 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 41/52: When an Army vet completes his service, returns to civilian life and signs onto Universal Credit only to be sanctioned for not signing on at the Job Centre at the precise time he is attending a job interview also organised by the Job Centre #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 42/52: 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 43/52: When a lady, unable to visit her sister due to previous lockdown restrictions, has to bury her when she is found dead after raising alarm she could not reach her by landline, which was cut off for failure to pay bill following a UC sanction #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 44/52: When a mother of two young daughters starts work preparation on Universal Credit, pioneers 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 45/52: When a single mum of two girls, receiving only Universal Credit, has to take in her shielding ex-partner due to the threat to his health, but is unable to access any additional support to sustain all four of them #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 46/52: When a 60 year old lady receiving Jobseekers' secures a call centre job on a zero hour contract, informs the DWP but is sanctioned for not filling in her log book and has to wait eight weeks without money until the decision is overturned #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 47/52: When a first-time mum has the maternity allowance she is entitled to deducted from her Universal Credit because lockdown restrictions prevent her from registering the birth while she and her newborn are left for three months with no income #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 48/52: 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 his work search #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 49/52: When a couple on a single income experience a delayed wage prior to Christmas and, with only five pence in the meter, tell their three year old son over dinner provided by the foodbank that the lights will soon go out until pennies arrive #StoriesBehindTheStatistics

Week 50/52: When a first time mum, who intended to breastfeed because it would be more cost effective than buying formula, is devastated when told by her GP that her calorie intake - following a recent sanction - was too low for her to produce milk #StoriesBehindTheStatistics