Michael was sanctioned for four months after failing to undertake a week’s compulsory work experience at a local charity shop. When he arrived, he found that the shop didn’t want him. Michael says, “I was five minutes early, I was polite. I knew that if I didn’t do the work, I would be sanctioned. I knew it was important.” During his sanction, he had no money to buy food, pay for his electricity, or for the bus fare from his village to the job centre. Instead, he walked 12 miles there and back every week until his payments were reinstated. He had no savings, no family to support him and few friends in the area. “It was bleak. You just give up,” he says.