Image: JobCentrePlus office. Wikimedia/Creative Commons
This is a story about the preposterous demands for money made on people who rely on what we used to call the ‘welfare state’ – on councils, housing providers, and the Department for Work and Pensions. Organisations which are supposed to support, not fleece, people in the greatest need.
Let’s start with Sam’s story. A 22-year-old Newham woman and mother to a young child, when I spent several days interviewing here she was in debt to every single one of the organisations that she relied on for housing, income and support.
