The UK Government’s sanctions regime has “detrimental financial, material, emotional and health impacts” and pushes those on JSA and ESA into debt and reliance on foodbanks, according to new academic research. The research is the first wave findings of a study on 'Welfare Conditionality' conducted by researchers from six universities including the University of Glasgow.
 
The study – presented in a briefing to MSPs at Holyrood today – showed that benefit sanctions were often out of proportion to the offence, such as being a few minutes late to an appointment, and that poor communication meant that some of those sanctioned did not understand why.
 
Those sanctioned commonly turn to borrowing, with some ending up “near-destitute, using food banks” and in extreme cases being “pushed towards ‘survival crime’”.
 
The report also said that there was “limited evidence” that conditionality brought about positive behavioural change, with successful transitions into work instead due to the availability of appropriate individual support. 
 
Commenting, SNP MSP Sandra White said:
 
“This is an absolutely damning report, laying bare the reality of the dehumanising and ineffective Tory sanctions system.
 
“The Tory Government approach to benefit claimants is to presume guilt and to punish disproportionately. Not only does this fail to help jobseekers find work, but it puts many people in the position where they’re simply penniless – which is why foodbank providers identify sanctions as one of the key drivers for their growth.
 
“This punitive benefit sanctions regime should be a stain on the conscience of the Tory Government. Theresa May’s Tories need to listen to those who have continually called for changes to this unfair and disproportionate system. An immediate and urgent review is needed of the claimant conditionality and sanction regime and sanctions should be paused until this is done.”

More than 900,000 people in Scotland live in low income households. In a rich country like ours this is unnecessary and unacceptable.

Challenge Poverty Week is an opportunity for you to raise you voice against poverty and show what is being done to tackle poverty across Scotland. Organisations large and small supported Challenge Poverty Week last year, and we hope even more get behind it this year. 

The main aims of the week are to:

• Highlight the reality of poverty and challenge the stereotypes that about exist about it;
• Demonstrate what is being done across Scotland to address poverty
• Increase public support for more action to combat poverty 

We are encouraging as many groups and individuals to get involved inChallenge Poverty Week by organising activities or taking part in activities organised by others. These pages will help you to do that.

Challenge Poverty Week is fast approaching, and we’re really keen to hear what your organisation has planned for it.  Challenge Poverty Week aims to bring together organisations from across civil society - from grassroots community groups to national voluntary organisations, trade unions and faith groups to highlight what they are doing to address poverty.

Your organisation has a crucial role to play in raising awareness about poverty in Scotland, and we hope you can be actively involved in Challenge Poverty Week. There are three main ways that you can be involved:

•  Organising an event or some other activity to mark the Week;

•  Promoting the week through your websites, facebook pages, twitter, etc.

•  Encouraging your members or supporters to get involved.

You can find lots of resources to help you organise your event here: http://www.povertyalliance.org/challenge_poverty

The Poverty Alliance will be facilitating a networking event in Dundee on the 26th of October which is designed to bring together a range of local groups and organisations to discuss issues of key concern to the fight against poverty. The meeting will be participative, and focused on discussion and on generating networking opportunities to tackle poverty in general as well as around key issues. The meeting will be small scale to allow time for discussion and debate.

The event will focus on:

• * Encouraging networking around key poverty issues
• * Responding locally: Identifying networking and follow up opportunities to tackle poverty

The discussions will be led by staff from the Poverty Alliance. The event is an opportunity to strengthen networking and share good practice. At the end of the event we will have an improved understanding of key poverty issues in Scotland, improved sharing and networking and identified ways to work together at both the local & national levels.The networking meetings are free and open to all groups and organisations that are concerned about poverty in Scotland. Statutory agencies, local civil society organisations - community and voluntary organisations, trade union branches, faith groups - will find the discussions useful.

Any thoughts that home ownership is not on the decline can be rectified by this graph. Owning your own home is but a dream for many young people as this graph clearly shows. 

Now in its third year, the annual awareness day will this year take place on Sunday 11 September 2016, within Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. It aims to highlight the huge number of informal and family carers who provide innovative and compassionate support for relatives with dementia every day.

NDCD has been founded by a coalition of partners including Dementia UK, Alzheimer’s Society and SweetTree Home Care Services. Each of the foundering organisations are dedicated to improving quality of life for people living with dementia and the quality of life of those caring for a loved one living with the condition. The founders are aligned in the overall aim of raising awareness of and supporting the role of informal dementia carers.

Caring for a loved one with dementia poses many challenges for families and caregivers. Living with dementia requires having the right care, and it’s time to recognise and share what it means to be a carer.

Patients in England will be able to view test results as they come in and keep track of their glucose levels and cholesterol on their smartphones, enabling them to take greater control of their care and better manage their health.

Official figures reveal that over 95% of GP practices are now set up to offer online access to detailed GP records including test results and diagnoses as well as referrals, immunisations, procedures and medications history. This is up from just 3% of practices in January this year.

This latest step is part of a raft of online GP services available to patients, which are designed to make their lives easier and more convenient including online appointment booking and ordering of repeat prescriptions.

Offering GP services online has also been shown to be beneficial for GP practices. For example, ‘no show’ rates for appointments booked online are 35% lower than for appointments booked conventionally, saving significant time and resource for GPs.

Dr Arvind Madan, NHS England Director of Primary Care and a Tower Hamlets GP, said: “We understand our patients lead busy lives and finding time to schedule doctors’ appointments, pick up prescriptions or call up for test results can be a challenge.  We want to ensure faster, easier access for patients, as well as support hard pressed practices in becoming more efficient.”

Matthew Swindells, NHS England National Director for Commissioning Operations and Information, said: “We want to give people the tools they need to confidently manage their health.  Encouraging patients to access their GP record online helps put them in the driving seat of their care. Patients with long term conditions such as heart disease will be able to track their lab results including cholesterol levels as soon as they come back to their GP and see how they alter in response to lifestyle changes.”

Dr Imran Rafi, Chair of the Clinical Innovation and Research Centre at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP),  said: “We hope that offering patients online services will help them and their practices to better manage their health, particularly long term conditions. The College has supported practices in offering these services by providing necessary guidance and we look forward to continuing our work with NHS England and other key stakeholders to improve the digital offer in the best interests of our GPs, practice teams and patients.”

Figures for March 2016 show that 8.5 million patients have signed up to book appointments online with 1.4 million appointments booked or cancelled during March, an increase of over 100% from April 2015.

New Lords speaker Lord Fowler says number of peers now ‘unjustifiable' and talks of 'passengers' in the House of Lords.

With David Cameron's resignation and the appointment of 16 new peers including Number 10 staff, the House of Lords  has grown in size to a bloated chamber of over 830 unelected members.

"Cutting the number of Lords by at least a quarter as Lord Fowler suggested will at least be starting the process of reform  – a process that the SNP believes should end with a fully elected upper house at Westminster. It is for opponents of that democratic option to explain why Bishops and party funders with big cheque books or – as recently happened  David Cameron’s wife’s stylist –  get to legislate on our behalf."

A FORMER policeman who fraudulently pocketed more than £74,000 in a benefits scam has been jailed for two years.

Timothy Dunning, who used to work for Thames Valley Police, admitted swindling the cash from West Oxfordshire District Council and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) over seven-and-a-half years. 

Sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, Recorder Richard Prior told the 53-year-old his offending was "wholly dishonest".

He added: "As a former police officer, much more would have been expected of you. Instead, this was a sophisticated and sustained benefits fraud.

"I'm disappointed to read in your pre-sentence report that the probation officer did not find you wholly honest in what you said to him."

Prosecutor Patrick Dennis said Dunning's offending was "dripping with dishonesty from every conceivable corner."

He said Dunning started fraudulently claiming housing benefit for his property in Ansell Way, Milton-under-Wychwood, in 2008, later claiming council tax benefit and employment support allowance.

Mr Dennis said Dunning lied to the council, telling officers his benefits must be paid to his landlord "Philip Winterbottom", who had bought his house and was renting it to him.

He went on to tell the court Dunning, who was born "Philip Winterbottom", submitted a fake rental agreement to the council while continuing to claim help for interest payments on his mortgage.

Mr Dennis said the defendant also failed to declare he was receiving a police pension, getting a lump sum of £41,677.88 in December 2012 and then an annual sum of £16,640.

He also did not tell the council his partner, who he was living with, was working.

Defence barrister Graham Bennett said Dunning was drinking alcohol frequently while he worked as a policeman for at least 25 years.

He said he was convicted of drink-driving in 2007, leaving his job in the force the following year and facing "financial difficulty" as he was unable to claim his police pension until 2012.

Mr Bennett added: "He has accepted by his guilty plea, that he behaved in a dishonest way."

He went on to say Dunning, who had since moved to Shropshire, would face "difficulties in prison" once inmates discovered he was a police officer.

Dunning, who must pay a victim surcharge, admitted four counts of fraud between February 2008 and August 2015.

Toby Morris, cabinet member for council tax and benefits at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We welcome the outcome of this case which clearly illustrates that we will not tolerate benefit fraud.”

A 'vital' benefits advice service for people with disabilities in Surrey is being cut by the county council, months after its leader said a tax increase implemented earlier this year would raise some £12m for adult social care services.

The GetWise service, run by the Surrey Disabled People’s Partnership, which helps to secure benefits for vulnerable people in the county, will close from September 30 due to “unprecedented financial challenges” faced by Surrey County Council.

The service supported 552 disabled people from Elmbridge in the last year, and it received 1,200 referrals from around the county in the first quarter of 2016.

The cut comes after Surrey’s Conservative leader David Hodge announced in February that a 3.99 per cent tax hike on Surrey residents would raise an extra £12m to support adult social care services.

More than a quarter of young people in many UK cities are unemployed, potentially undermining efforts to bring about "inclusive growth" following Brexit, a new study has warned.

A report by the charity EY Foundation says "stark variations" in youth unemployment levels across the UK could have a knock-on effect on local economic growth.

But the study found youth unemployment had dropped markedly over the last five years, and that levels are back to where they were before the global financial crisis and subsequent recession.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that the unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK as a whole in 2015 was 14.4%, slightly lower than the 17.9% who were unemployed in London.

The North East was found to have the highest unemployment rate for the age group of anywhere in the UK, at 18.3%, compared with just 11.2% in the East of England, the lowest rate.

But the report, entitled The Employment Landscape For Young People In The UK, found that youth unemployment is consistently far higher in cities than in the broader regional areas.

In Middlesbrough 27.3% of youths were unemployed, while in Bradford the figure was 26%, compared with just 15% for the wider Yorkshire and Humber region.

In Swansea it was 27.3%, against 17.4% for Wales, while in Wolverhampton it was 27%, compared with 15.5% for the West Midlands region as a whole.

Data for March to May 2016 also suggests that there are 142,000 16 to 17-year-olds in the UK who are unemployed, along with 475,000 18 to 24-year-olds, accounting for 28.7% and 11.6% of the age ranges respectively.

This shows a steady recovery from 2011, when unemployment for 16 to 17-year-olds peaked at 40% and for 18 to 24-year-olds at 20%.

The findings come after commentators warned the vote to leave the EU had exposed deep social divisions across the country.

In her first statement on the steps of Downing Street, the new Prime Minister Theresa May promised to "make Britain a country that works for everyone".

Mark Gregory, EY's chief economist, said: "Youth unemployment rates have fallen from the peaks we saw during the recession, when 40% of the UK's 16-17 year olds were facing unemployment.

However, a stubbornly high number of young people remain excluded from the labour market, which could be further exacerbated by a period of weaker economic growth in these uncertain times ahead.