CITIZENS ADVICE SCOTLAND'S REPORT, LIVING AT THE SHARP END

That this House welcomes Citizens Advice Scotland's report, entitled Living at the Sharp End, which analyses the causes and impact of periods of no income for Citizen Advice Bureaux clients in Scotland, and notes that such periods are most often caused by issues caused by the Government's regressive austerity-fuelled welfare cuts, including system failures within the Department for Work and Pensions on processing times, issues with the lack of eligibility for benefits during a reconsideration and benefit sanctions; further notes that young people, those unable to work due to ill health and those with a disability are disproportionately affected by acute deprivation of income; stresses that austerity does not work and urges the Government urgently to address the failing sanction regime and proactively work across all sectors to tackle the root causes of poverty rather than working in reverse inadequately to plug the gaps of its failing social policies.