5. The impact of the new government policy that puts people on a sanction if they miss a benefit appointment.

Lee Nutley is in a pretty bad place, and it was hard to watch. He’s been on job seekers allowance for the past year after being laid off. Every appliance in his house seems to be broken and he’s just been refused a crisis loan, so he relies on his neighbours for cooking and laundry. We saw that Lee had been told he’d missed an appointment (which he denies) and his benefits have been cut from £90 a fortnight to nothing.  Viewers saw him struggle in a constant battle with anxiety, depression and epilepsy, while saying that he’d actually like to work.