'CRUEL and unfair' benefits sanctions are leaving residents hungry and struggling to make ends meet, a community campaigner claims.

Concerned Barrow anti-poverty champion and Barrow Borough Councillor Michael Cassells says more and more people in the town are suffering after having their weekly government allowances withdrawn.

He has now organised a drop in session to find out the scale of the issue across the area and is urging anyone affected by benefits cuts to attend the event at St Matthew's Church Hall, in Highfield Road, on Saturday, October 15, between 2pm and 4pm.

Cllr Cassells said more and more people, including those with children, are falling victim to one of the harshest benefits systems seen across the country in a generation.

"I'm really struck by just how many people are having to use the foodbank and soup kitchen now to eat because they just don't have enough money to buy food," he added.

"People are limping along with what very little income they have because their benefits have been withheld.

"The sanctions are cruel - and people are out there suffering in silence because they don't know how to challenge the sanctions they have been dealt."

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Sanctions can be issued to people on benefits for a variety of reasons such as arriving late to an appointment at the job centre or being deemed to have done too little to find suitable employment.

There are three types of sanction - with lower and intermediate levels resulting in a four week benefits ban.

They can be increased to 13 weeks if further sanctions are issued within 52 weeks.

Higher level benefits sanctions last for between three months and three years depending on the number issued in any 52-week period.

Last week the Evening Mail reported the story of a desperate mum of two who considered handing her children to social services after government appointed US firm Concentrix incorrectly blocked her benefits - leaving her with no money for food.

RELATED ARTICLE: Barrow mum considered handing her children to social services after wrongly having benefits cut

Cllr Cassells is now urging people to seek advice or make contact with him if they have been dealt a sanction they do not believe is fair.

"Many don't know they can appeal these sanctions and others don't have the energy to fight them," he added.

"The sanctions are there to stop people taking the mickey with their benefits, but there are also a lot of genuine people who are ending up as collateral damage within a system that shows no compassion."

Cllr Cassells can be contacted by email at communitycampaignsbarrow@outlook.com

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