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Danielle John's life spiralled out of control one February morning after opening her mail.

She received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) telling her that her Universal Credit payments would be sanctioned because she missed an appointment.

The reason she missed it: she'd had a miscarriage the day before and had forgotten to inform her work coaches.

In a letter received seven months after her miscarriage, she was told in stark language: "You didn't come to a meeting with us... Because of this, you'll lose some or all of your universal credit payment for a time. We call this being sanctioned."

The letter goes on to explain that she will lose £10.40 every day for 229 days, a total of £2,381.60. There doesn't appear to have been an attempt to find out why she missed the appointment.

The letter sparked a downward spiral which Danielle, 37, says saw her falling back into drug use, addicted to heroin after being clean for 15 years, attempting to take her own life and ending up in prison for shoplifting.

She says she has also since gone through a further eight miscarriages.

But the DWP refused to reconsider the sanction even after Danielle's doctor sent it a letter saying she was "suffering from recurrent miscarriages" and "probably would not have been able to work at this time".

Danielle, from Trowbridge in Cardiff, said: "I lived a normal life before all of this happened. I trained to become a legal secretary and I was happy and working in bars across Cardiff. I had a car, a roof over my head, everything was fine.

"I was getting universal credit while I was working and I wasn't earning much, probably around £500 a month. But everything changed when I had a miscarriage."

(Image: Danielle John)

Figures released in December showed there were 68,136 people receiving universal credit in Wales. By the end of the full roll-out, scheduled for 2023, it's estimated that more than 400,000 in Wales will be in receipt of the new benefit. Several people have already told us of the traumatic impact it has had on their lives .

Universal credit is the biggest change to the welfare state in a generation and was fully rolled out to all job centres in Wales in December to replace six other benefits with a single monthly payment . This is how many people are on universal credit in every part of Wales.

Danielle was working on June 29, 2016 when she felt pain in her stomach. She was three months pregnant and went to visit the GP the next day. She had miscarried. She suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, a common condition that affects ovaries.

Having been forced to deal with the awful news, she missed her appointment the next day at a job centre in Cardiff. Four months later, in November, her payments suddenly stopped.

(Image: Richard Swingler)

She rang up and was put through a "mandatory reconsideration", in which she asked to provide medical evidence to support her claims. She provided a GP letter but a week later was informed the sanction was being upheld.

In the letter her GP states: "I can confirm that Miss John was suffering with recurrent miscarriages from August 2015 and until October 2016. At that time she was also attending gynaecology department being investigated for this. She probably would not have been able to work at this time."

Things got even worse and her life returned to a dark place from which she thought she had long since escaped. She had moved to Dublin in 1999 as a teenager, where she had a son but also became addicted to crack cocaine and heroin.

"It's the worst type of life you can get yourself involved in," she said.

"It's such a dark place that no one should ever be in and it's so hard to get out of. It's harder being a drug addict than it is having a normal job. Even though there are stereotypes, trust me: it's a much worse lifestyle."

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She returned to Cardiff in 2012, aged 30. Her son is now 19 and studying in Dublin. She got a job in a pub and got clean.

But after her payments stopped and the heartbreak of miscarriages, after 15 years of being clean she became addicted to heroin again.

"I thought it was a life I had left behind forever," she said.

"I couldn't afford to pay my gas or electric at home so I turned to shoplifting. I wasn't very good but someone offered me money for washing-up powder and it gave me the idea that this was how I could pay my bills.

"It got worse as people would start offering me drugs for items. It's a vicious cycle because you literally can't get out of it. I'd have days when I'd feel low and people would offer me a crack pipe just to get my confidence going."

(Image: Richard Swingler)

After a string of miscarriages, Danielle and her partner separated. She spent Christmas alone and describes this period as her darkest. With no money for bills, she sat at home alone in the dark crying and hungry.

She tried to take her own life but an ambulance was called to her house.

"I didn't see the point in living anymore, the depression took over me," she said.

"I started to cut myself and began to bleed loads but an ambulance arrived. After a few days I was released and it was back to normal again. People who I knew were sending me shopping to steal for them."

A year later, Danielle spent 11 weeks in prison after being caught shoplifting. But she says judges in court cited the fact her payments had been stopped and she was stealing to survive.

Danielle's mum stepped in to try and save her daughter's life. The 56-year-old has spinal problems and arthritis in her hands. It means she isn't able to turn her head properly and can only use one arm, so requires constant care, which Danielle provides.

Her mum has helped her get her life back on track and attend support groups such as Dyfodol, which helps people in Wales with drug and alcohol issues. She has been clean since March and has the support to try to ensure it stays that way.

(Image: Richard Swingler)

"I'm so grateful for the people at Dyfodol who have supported me and my case worker," she says.

"They're helping me look at university courses so I can become a counsellor to ensure other people don't go through the same problems I have."

But she also wants to highlight problems with universal credit and how fragile life is when you're dependent on benefits.

She believes there are hundreds of others across the country who have also gone through similar problems and has a message for them: "There's so much support out there for anyone struggling. Since I put my story on social media hundreds of people have been in touch to support me and there are groups who are dedicated to help you.

"My message would be to not go through this alone, reach out to people who can help you.

"The problem with the system is that there's no physical support so everyone just gets treated the same, there's no exception.

"My life wouldn't have gone that way if that sanction didn't happen. They destroyed 15 years of sobriety and nearly took my life."

The DWP said the sanction was not the result of one missed appointment. They say Danielle missed eight appointments over five months (Danielle acknowledges she missed these appointments but the July 1, 2016 appointment that sparked the letter was the first she missed).

A DWP spokeswoman said: "Our Jobcentre staff are experienced at supporting vulnerable people and when we know about their personal circumstances we can make sure we offer the right help.

“Sanctions are a last resort and when we are made aware – including retrospectively – of good reasons why appointments are missed, they will not be used. Universal credit customers can keep in touch with their work coaches over the phone and via the online journal.”