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Ewan Gurr Profile picture
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3 Jan, 5 tweets, 4 min read
Week 1/52: When Caitlin, having moved away from family for work loses her job, applies for Universal Credit two weeks before Christmas and uses first payment to repay a loan she took out to pay for the Christmas dinner she ate alone #FacesBehindTheFigures
ewangurr.scot/stories Image
Week 2/52: Sanctioned for arriving two mins late to sign on at Job Centre when his bus was diverted due to roadworks, Peter was @Dundee_Foodbank for food saying: "I've worked all my life. Now when I need the system, its let me down." #FacesBehindTheFigures
ewangurr.scot/stories Image
Week 3/52: Three years ago, after a benefit delay, Alex from Glasgow was starving yet still required to walk 2.5 miles daily to work programme. One day, he collapsed on arrival. Instead of calling an ambulance, staff called Police #FacesBehindTheFigures
ewangurr.scot/stories Image
Week 4/52: Suzanne, and her husband, could not pay their mortgage after losing well-paid jobs and their home was repossessed. She lost two stone and could not breastfeed their six week old because she was consuming too few calories #FacesBehindTheFigures
ewangurr.scot/stories Image
Week 5/52: Last year, 61-year-old Dundonian grandmother Christine died weighing three stone when her benefits were stopped and mobility car removed for being "mobile enough" to open her front door to medical assessors
#FacesBehindTheFigures
ewangurr.scot/stories Image

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More from @EwanGurr

Ewan Gurr Profile picture
20 Feb 20
My Top Ten Columnists of 2020:

Day 1/10: "I am a horrendously big fan of @kmckenna63. My finest memory was when he accompanied me to his local foodbank in Glasgow where he listened to a man who endured a level of poverty it is hard to comprehend."

ewangurr.scot/my-top-ten Image
My Top Ten Columnists of 2020:

Day 2/10: "@KirstyStricklan has the political antenna of a parliamentary assistant, the literary eloquence of a frontbench speechwriter and always communicates in a thoughtful and reflective manner."

wp.me/pXBm3-dq Image
My Top Ten Columnists of 2020:

Day 3/10: "@alexmassie is often my first pit stop when I pick up a @SundayTimesScot. His exposure of uncomfortable truths and balanced critique of his side of the constitutional question is potentially unrivalled."

wp.me/pXBm3-dq Image
Read 8 tweets
Ewan Gurr Profile picture
5 Jan 20
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
Read 50 tweets
Ewan Gurr Profile picture
1 Dec 19
01/12/2019: When a single mum in week three of the five week wait for her first Universal Credit payment drops to 6.5 stone having foregone meals to feed her two sons and plans to prostitute herself for Christmas presents until the foodbank steps in #WhenChristmasEqualsCrisis
02/12/2019: When a mum calls the Department of Work and Pensions to ask if she can reschedule a later signing on appointment to attend her son's Christmas school play and is told if she misses the existing one, she will be sanctioned #WhenChristmasEqualsCrisis
03/12/2019: When a working couple, on a restricted income and struggling to feed their daughter after their claim for Universal Credit immediately stopped child tax credits, send her to the breakfast club before school to ensure she gets fed #WhenChristmasEqualsCrisis
Read 14 tweets
Ewan Gurr Profile picture
5 Jan 19
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
Read 51 tweets

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