Recommendation 125

Kirsty McKechnie of The Child Poverty Action Group highlighted that this policy caused a lot of stress to claimants, since whether or not a claimant had met their claimant commitment was ‘very much at the work coach’s discretion. It depends very much with different work coaches, different jobcentres and different claimants how the claimant commitment will be agreed and how that will be appropriate for each individual.’313 The written evidence we received on the topic from the Scottish Association for Mental Health talked of how this policy was detrimental to the mental health of claimants pointing to a University of Glasgow study that found that ‘sanctions are associated with increases in both anxiety/depression’314 for claimants. The Trussell Trust also said that sanctions are one of the ‘significant predictors of demand for food parcels.’315 The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations noted that disabled people and people with mental health issues face particular difficulties in maintaining their Universal Credit claim as they ‘may be required to carry out work related activities before going through a Work Capability Assessment and may face sanctions as a result.’316 Meanwhile Inclusion Scotland highlighted that after sanctions were reintroduced in July 2020 (having been suspended in March 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic) this action means that ‘disabled people are more likely to be disproportionately impacted’ as they may face problems ‘finding suitable work, and may feel forced to accept jobs which put them at risk’317 to avoid facing benefit sanctions. 311 Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit and your claimant commitment, July 2020, accessed 23 April 2021 312 Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit and your claimant commitment, July 2020, accessed 23 April 2021 313 Q92 314 SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) (WPS0005) 315 The Trussell Trust (WPS0006) 316 Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (WPS0017) 317 Inclusio