Thousands of Lanarkshire locals on the poverty line could be left "destitute" due to the Department of Work and Pensions clawing back money.
Figures obtained by the SNP’s Chris Stephens MP revealed that in August 2022 alone the DWP took £2.3 million off claimants in Scotland - an average of £250 per sanctioned household.
The most affected area throughout Lanarkshire was the Rutherglen and Hamilton West parliamentary constituency, where £60,000 was taken from benefits claimants with an average reduction of £261.
The constituency is the joint- fifth worst impacted in Scotland of total funds clawed back, meaning that roughly 230 people across Rutherglen and Cambuslang’s Westminster constituency are seeing some of their benefits taken back from them.
The figures were high in other Lanarkshire areas as well, with £54,000 for Airdrie and Shotts (£247 per person), £48,000 for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (£257 per person), £41,000 for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (£263 per person) and £49,000 for Lanark and Hamilton East (£265 per person).
The nearby Glasgow South constituency, which includes Castlemilk, saw a total of £45,000 (£258 per person).
The figures were slammed by the Rutherglen MSP Clare Haughey, who stated that current sanctions were "pushing people towards poverty".
She told Lanarkshire Live : “We have known since they were introduced that the punitive benefit sanctions regime is causing hardship and pushing people into poverty, debt, destitution and towards foodbanks and emergency aid.
“These staggering figures show the devastating impact of the Tory government’s sanctions regime on local people, particularly in the midst of soaring energy bills and spiralling inflations which is already eating away at people’s hard-earned cash.
“In Scotland we’ve taken a much different, more progressive approach, opposing Westminster austerity and implementing our game-changing Scottish Child Payment.
“The sad reality is though that these efforts to cut poverty is ever-undermined while we remain attached to the broken Westminster system and at the mercy of the callous Conservative Party.”
The worst affected region in all of Scotland was Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, where a whopping £81,000 was taken back in August.
A DWP spokesman said: "People are only sanctioned if they fail, without good reason, to meet the conditions they agree, and emphasis is placed on protecting vulnerable claimants.
"Our priority is to help people to find and stay in work and the latest figures show the majority of sanctions were applied due to claimants failing to attend mandatory appointments with their Work Coach.
"If a claimant disagrees with a sanction, they can ask for this to be reconsidered and can appeal to an independent tribunal."
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