If you’ve ever tried to claim benefits , you’ll know the feeling – the knot in your stomach before an assessment, the dread of the brown envelope on the doormat, the sense that you’re being judged rather than supported.

Those feelings of fear and suspicion are not only in your head. They are built into the way our system works, and they’re stopping it from doing the very thing it’s meant to do. It is meant support us through tough times and enable us to live independently, take the next step in our careers and get on with our lives. Instead, it is making tough times harder.

At Turn2us , we’ve spent the past year working with the University of Bristol to understand the impact of stigma in the social security system. The researchers spoke to people across the UK who were claiming unive

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