As many as 1 in 3 people seeking help with Universal Credit don’t have access to the internet to make their claim, according to new figures from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS).
CAS has submitted evidence to Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur, on the introduction of digital technologies to social protection systems.
As part of the submission the charity has produced new analysis from its client database which shows that, in April 2019, 34 per cent of Scots seeking CAB help with Universal Credit did so because they could not access the internet.*
CAS has also submitted to the UN and Scottish MPs its latest ‘Voice from the frontline’ briefing, which presents a number of anonymous case studies, including:
- A client suffering from chronic anxiety and depression who has been repeatedly sanctioned for not updating his online journal correctly. He has no computer skills or access to the Internet at home. He has no money at all and he is reliant on Crisis Grants and food parcels.
- A distressed client who has worked manual jobs his entire life and so does not know how to turn on a computer, let alone how to log on to and update his journal.
- A housebound man who has been signed off work for a minimum of 13 weeks following knee surgery, who is without access to a computer and is struggling to afford regular mobile data top-ups.
Read about it here.
