WOMEN are bearing the brunt of Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms, MSPs will today be told by frontline charities working with single parents, survivors of domestic abuse and victims of sexual violence.

Evidence submitted by Close the Gap, which campaigns on equal pay, revealed that 85 per cent of the cuts introduced in Scotland since 2010 have been to women’s incomes and have mostly targeted those living on the breadline.

Today’s welfare reform committee at Holyrood will also hear how sanctions have been imposed on women suffering from severe morning sickness and have left others unable to feed their children or buy sanitary products.

“This is some absolutely heart-breaking evidence from frontline organisations on the appalling impact Westminster’s sanctioning regime is having on vulnerable women across Scotland,” said Clare Adamson, a SNP member of the committee.

“From single mothers to refugees, it’s clear that these sanctions are hurting the very people who need help the most – and the fact that organisations who see the impact of sanctions first-hand in our communities are speaking out should make people sit up and take notice.”

The SNP has previously called for an immediate review of the UK Government’s conditionality and sanctions regime – and said the DWP should not be allowed to impose any more sanctions on vulnerable people while the review is ongoing.

The party also wants more social security powers to create a fairer benefits system in Scotland.

Close the Gap, One Parent Families Scotland, the Fawcett Society, Inclusion Scotland, the Scottish Refugee Council, Child Poverty Action Group and the Scottish Women’s Convention all submitted written evidence to the committee critical of the UK Government’s social security cuts.

Some of the groups provided case studies of those impacted by cuts – with One Parent Families telling the story of two-months pregnant Emma, 20, who lost four weeks JSA after she failed to turn up to a meeting with her JSA adviser because of severe morning sickness.

The Scottish Women’s Convention also described how another woman, who was 10 minutes late for an appointment due to having to take her four-year-old to the toilet, was also sanctioned for four weeks, and as a result was unable to feed her children.

Its submission said: “Sanctions have hit people hard and have left many with even lower self-esteem and confidence than they had previously.

“Women have been coming to the organisation I work with asking for sanitary products because they have been sanctioned and have no money.”

Child Poverty Action Group told how another pregnant woman with two young children failed to complete mandatory work activity because she could not get access to a computer. Her sanction was applied on Wednesday but she was not informed that she could apply for a hardship payment until the Friday. She was told on the Friday that she would not be able to access the payment until the following Monday and had no money to get through the weekend.

A series of reports for Holyrood’s welfare reform committee are highly critical of the impact of benefit cuts and sanctions.

Earlier this year Professor Steve Fothergill, of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, revealed welfare reforms would cost Scots £1.5 billion a year by 2018, with about two third falling on households with young children.

In April Scotland’s social work chiefs raised significant concerns about the impact of welfare cuts on the country’s most vulnerable children.

They said the changes will increase the number of youngsters living in poverty, placing them at a higher risk of abuse, poor health and low educational attainment.

Social Work Scotland warned the reforms may lead to more children and young people ending up homeless, turning to drug misuse and getting involved in anti-social behaviour and crime.

A DWP spokesman said: “The number of sanctions is falling as more claimants fulfil their commitments to look for work. The truth is that every day local Jobcentre Plus advisers are helping people into work and we have a near-record number of people in jobs. Sanctions are only used as a last resort for the tiny minority who refuse to take up the support which is on offer.

“We make every attempt to support vulnerable claimants who aren’t fulfilling their commitments so they don’t face a sanction. In addition, claimants who are sanctioned and have children receive hardship payments straight away.”

He added that the number of people in work in Scotland is at a near-record high since at least 1992 and employment continues to grow with total employment up 42,000 over the past year. There are also near-record numbers of women in work in Scotland with 1.3 million currently employed or self employed.