- Human rights in the UK in crisis as new report exposes crushing evidence of a social security system ruining lives
- Discrimination and dehumanisation reported as rife as punitive system drives poverty by policy
- ‘They told me to go in for an assessment, and my baby had passed away… not even two days before…. And they were like, well if you need the money, you will come in. It’s not my fault your baby is dead’ – Claimant
- ‘I would often be asked the same question three times to see if I’d change my answer. The process feels like you are on trial for murder, they act like they are trying to catch you out and that you are begging’ – Peter
- ‘Lives are being ruined by a system that is consciously cruel – it erodes dignity by design. We are in a state of severe human rights violations’– Jen Clark, Amnesty
Amnesty International UK’s new report takes a deep dive into the murky and divisive world of the UK social security system. The unique research is an extensive look through the lens of human rights violations across our basic rights to housing, food, education, healthcare and social security.
The evidence delivers damning conclusions on how the system processes, punishes, harms and dehumanises people and fails to meet international legal obligations. Successive UK governments have ignored the UN’s pleas to take urgent action to fix this.
Poverty is a visible sign of a failing social security system. When the government knowingly makes choices to make poverty worse, it is deliberately violating basic human rights. We have moved from a society that supports people to a punitive system that drives poverty by policy.
The rate of poverty in the UK is now higher than at any point in the 21st century. Sixteen million people in the UK are living in families in poverty – almost a quarter of the UK*. Of these, 5.2 million are children, 9.2 million are working-age adults, and 1.5 million are pension-age adults.
For its report ‘Social Insecurity’ Amnesty’s collaborated with over 700 benefit claimants and advisors to provide a platform for the people most gravely affected and show how politicians are playing with people’s lives and ignoring our most basic rights. In 2024 86% of low-income families on Universal Credit went without essentials such as heating, food and clothing.
With the backdrop of the Spring Statement and devastating disability social security cuts, Amnesty’s report delivers a crushing blow of evidence on the UK’s social security system and political choices that have pushed people into poverty and centres real-life experiences throughout, demonstrating the depth of dehumanisation.
Recommendations from the report
- System overhaul: A landmark, independent Social Security Commission with statutory powers to overhaul the UK’s broken benefits system—rooted in dignity and human rights.
- Urgent protection from harm: The UK Government to urgently reverse harmful social security cuts, sanctions and caps including the two-child limit and ensure upcoming reforms of PIP, ESA and Universal Credit, meet international human rights standards and are shaped by those most affected.
- Legal protections: The UK Government to put in place legal frameworks protecting economic, social and cultural rights to ensure everyone’s basic human rights to food, housing, and dignity are protected in law and prevent failures in social security policy from causing wider harms.
Sections of the report expose
Systemic failures and lack of dignity and respect: Reports of hostile attitudes and judgmental behaviour within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) illustrate systemic shortcomings. The current system fails to meet its obligations to treat claimants with humanity and compassion, contributing to distrust and trauma of vulnerable individuals.
“Client had a Personal Independent Payment claim terminated as they would only offer a telephone appointment, despite them being profoundly deaf”. (Social Security Advisor)
“They told me to go in for an assessment, and my baby had passed away. Like not even two days before…. And they were like, well if you need the money, you will come in. It’s not my fault your baby is dead”. (Claimant)
Restricted access to Social Security and discriminatory practices
There are discriminatory conditions that restrict access for marginalised groups, inadequate transparency in eligibility criteria, and insufficient efforts to ensure effective, fair and transparent appeal processes.
“Every time someone is assessed inappropriately for benefits, it takes extra time and money for the mistake to be corrected. Most often the claimants suffer, but the taxpayers also suffer owing to the additional administration and resolution costs which need to be met”. (Advisor)
Social Security advisors across the country described how difficult access to information about entitlements and processes are. 64% of advisors rated it very difficult or difficult to get access to information on Universal Credit, and 68% of advisors said the same for PIP and 58% for ESA.
Of 416 claimants who responded to the question, 52% rated access to Social Security schemes as difficult or very difficult.
Unjust and ill-informed decisions on sanctions and deductions
23% of the claimants who completed Amnesty research had experienced being sanctioned or having a deduction. Within this, 78% of people said it worsened their mental health. 55% told us they reduced the food they ate and 35% went without food. 47% of people stated that it worsened their physical health. 44% of people told us they were forced to borrow money to make ends meet.
“Client lost benefits and home after being turned down for not attending the assessment as he soiled himself on the train to assessment centre and had to go home”. (Advisor)
“I’ve been sanctioned loads of time because I’m working. Borrowed off my sister and mother. Without them, I would probably be dead in the gutter because I couldn’t afford to live” (Claimant)
“They look down on you when you walk into the job centre. I had a panic attack in the job centre. I couldn’t breathe, and she went “you better get upstairs now and see your work coach, or we are going to sanction you” (Claimant)
“The actual interview is on the phone when they talk to you. They only give you one call…. If you missed that one call, they sanction that. They should give at least 3 rings at least give you a chance.” (Claimant)
Jen Clark, Economic and Social Rights Lead at Amnesty International UK, said: “Lives are being ruined by a system that is consciously cruel – it erodes dignity by design. We are in a state of severe human rights violations.
“The social security system is impenetrable, inadequate, and for some completely inaccessible.
“There can be no tinkering of the system – it has gone too far, and it is too late. There must be full reform. It is broken from start to finish and intentionally sets people up to fail. No-one would want political choices in this country to deliberately diminish dignity and perpetuate poverty.
“I’ve worked to highlight human rights violations for more than two decades and witnessed many awful situations. But never have I encountered such raw and widespread distress from people sharing their experiences in the UK.
“We need a landmark, independent Social Security Commission with statutory powers to overhaul the UK’s broken benefits system. It must be rooted in dignity and human rights and designed by and for the people. This must protect us all – be that today or in the future where we all may need it.”
Voices of the campaign
John, 60’s, from Hampshire was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) quite late on in life – in his 60s. It progressed much faster than he could have ever expected. “In August 2021, before I even knew what was happening to me, I was still working at the Ministry of Defence as a Policy Advisor. I was deployed to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation. Before my diagnosis, I had spent years working and contributing, and I never once thought I would be in a position where I needed to rely on benefits.”
In speaking about the experience of applying for Personal Independence Payment (PiP), John said:
“Applying was a nightmare. The process was so difficult and one-sided. When I finally received my assessment, DWP had scored me zero for the impact MS had on my daily life. Zero. If they had at least acknowledged some of the difficulties, if they had scored me a five or six or even a seven instead of the eight, I needed, I might have accepted it. But to say that MS had no impact on my life at all? That was infuriating.
“There is a bus stop 100 meters from my house. Usain Bolt could get there in less than 10 seconds whereas it takes me 10 minutes, but we would both score a zero for impact of MS on our lives. It’s ridiculous.”
Carly, 39, London is a single mother to a young son. She was recently receiving Universal credit, with contributions towards housing and her son’s childcare costs. Despite having good knowledge of the process from a prior job, she found navigating the social security system difficult.
In speaking about Universal Credit and the challenges that occur when benefits are wrongly cancelled, Carly said:
“As a single parent, working in a temporary role, I was not earning enough to cover private rental fees. My son had just started nursery, and I had a lot of expenses that my salary couldn’t cover. I applied for benefits with a five week wait – which was a very difficult time.
“When my role was made permanent, I got a lump sum of holiday pay in my paycheck – meaning I was paid more that month than usual. Unexpectedly, this led to my benefits claim being incorrectly cancelled. I wasn’t contacted about this and had no idea until the money didn’t appear in my bank account. I was crying on the phone telling my landlord I couldn’t pay my rent. I had a terrible ten-week wait until my social security payments started again and had to borrowed money from friends and family. I was offered an advance before the claim came through – but I’d already had one to pay for nursery fees and didn’t want to get into further debt.
“I did lodge a complaint about the cancellation of my benefits, but the claim wasn’t upheld, and I felt I didn’t have the time or energy to fight it.
“The hardest thing about the social security system is the uncertainty and insecurity around it all. It was very mentally challenging to not know when or how much my payments would be. I lived in fear of uploading the wrong information and having my benefits cancelled again. The worst part is the feeling like you have no control over anything. You always feel insecure. I was always relieved when universal credit went in, and it was the amount you were expecting.
“The stigma is real, navigating the system only amplifies it, making an already difficult situation even harder. You have no autonomy, no choice, there’s nothing you can do. It creates a feeling that you aren’t deserving or worthy – that you should be grateful and not challenge anything.”
Philip from Leeds
“I lost my job suddenly in September 2023. I did my applications early to get ahead, but I didn’t realise the claim automatically starts from the day you fill the form in, and you can’t change the date. It made my claim invalid which meant I missed my initial payment. I also never received the support I was due towards my home costs, despite chasing and asking many times. When I contacted the Job Centre to request a face-to-face appointment with a work coach, but it took me over a month to be able to get the appointment and sadly, it wasn’t helpful at all.
“Around this time, my father was ill with dementia. I live far from my parents and don’t drive, and being on such a low income meant I didn’t have the funds to travel there by public transport. I couldn’t afford to visit my father in his final days, and he passed away in November 2023. Not being able to see him before he died was extremely difficult and after going to my GP, I was put on anti-depressants.
“Having to chase my social security claim and not getting responses or offers to the jobs I was applying for, alongside with the grief I was experiencing, had a huge effect on my mental health and made things very difficult. I was struggling to cope.”
Additional case studies
Valerie*
“Being on benefits in the UK can feel almost taboo- something to keep private and feel embarrassed about. This is sad, because the vast majority of us are just normal people trying to live life the best way we can, raise our families and find whatever happiness there is in life despite the hardships we face.”
Peter
“I started receiving social security in 2021, just after I finished university. I applied for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) due to a long-term health condition. The PIP application process was atrocious and ultimately took over a year.
“I had to deal with a lack of understanding about my condition. One of the interviewers mislabelled and misunderstood the medical equipment I use and even went as far as to lecture me about my own illness. I had to get my doctor to write a letter just to confirm what I’d said.
“I would often be asked the same question three times to see if I’d change my answer. The process feels like you are on trial for murder, they act like they are trying to catch you out and that you are begging.
“The PIP application needs to be renewed every couple of years or so – despite my disability being due to a long-term health condition that won’t improve over time. Itt’s like I am starting over again each time.
“Watching my friends from Uni live their lives makes me feel like I am missing out on a lot. I would like to be able to do more things, to get out and about a bit more – perhaps take a day trip to a local area. Even to travel locally is hard as the buses are too expensive and I can’t afford a car. I don’t want to be on benefits, I’d love to be able to work but I simply can’t.”
Steve
“I had to stop working 15 years ago. I’d been struggling with severe pain in my right knee for about two years before finally having surgery. That’s when I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis. I somehow managed to keep working through the pain, but eventually, it just became too much. I’ve now developed Osteoarthritis throughout my whole body.
“I use a crutch indoors and both crutches whenever I go outside. Getting around is incredibly difficult, but I push myself because if I didn’t get out at all, I’d feel down and alone.
“Appling for Universal Credit and PIP was tough. Being on benefits doesn’t feel great. I’m in a small studio flat and most days I’m by myself. Going out for shopping is the only time I see anyone. Prices have gone up too, which makes things harder.
“Losing my mum in 2020, just before lockdown, hit me hard. I still miss her so much. And visiting and being with my dad brings me comfort. It makes things much better for me. Visiting my dad is really hard with my condition. He’s 92 now and lives over three and a half hours away. My sister moved closer to him to help out. I try to go see them when I can, but the journey is a lot.
“I have to get a train into London, struggle through the underground to catch another train, then a bus, and finally a taxi to his place. Before COVID, I used to take the National Express coach straight to his, then just a taxi. But that route’s been cancelled and it’s now so much longer and more exhausting.”
