Church leaders in the UK have welcomed a call by MPs for an ‘urgent’ review of benefits sanctions. Their support for the Work and Pensions Select Committee proposal comes after a Church report found that nearly seven million weeks of sanctions were handed out to people in 2013/2014, with as many as 100,000 children affected. People on sickness benefit because of a long-term mental health problem were being sanctioned at a rate of more than 100 per day. ‘The Select Committee Report describes a system that is broken and needs urgent review,’ said Paul Morrison of the Methodist Church. ‘Churches are often at the forefront of helping people who have been sanctioned and who are in desperate need of food, support and advice. It is unacceptable that vulnerable people can be left with no means of support as punishment for often very minor mistakes.'