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campaign against welfare cuts and poverty

DWP once again refusing to disclose information about universal credit.

http://www.24dash.com/news/universa...-accommodation-changes-explained#.U5RzwB_zsUQ

Responding to a freedom of information request, which also wanted to know how many people were receiving UC payments more frequently than once a month and the number who were having their rent paid direct to their landlord, the DWP said official statistics would be published "in due course" and wanted to ensure that it was a "properly planned and managed process".

The DWP said: "There are public interest arguments against disclosure of this information at the present time. These arguments include that it is in the public interest to adhere to the existing publication process for official statistics, which includes time for the data to be collated and properly verified.

"It is also in the public interest to ensure that the publication of official information is a properly planned and managed process, to ensure that the data is accurate once placed into the public domain.
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So although the public are interested in how many UC claimants are having to get payments by other means, it's in the public interest not to tell them?
 
10463872_330498720433402_7640766228398260161_n.jpg


Aide to Duncan Smith.
 
What the fuck is this?

Richard Bristow, the manager of Poole Citizens’ Advice Bureau, cited a case where a man with learning disabilities was living on a paste made from flour and water after his benefits were suspended and another where a woman with breast cancer was forced to stop chemotherapy because she was assessed as ineligible for benefits.
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How the hell can the DWP force people to stop chemotherapy? That cna't be legal!
 
Awesome Wells said:
<snip> How the hell can the DWP force people to stop chemotherapy? That cna't be legal!
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It's forcing a stop in treatment by proxy, in the same way as the increased suicide rate since ESA and ATOS assessments came in is murder by proxy. If you can't afford to get yourself there, and if you're too sick/fatigued to make the journey, you're prevented just as much as if you were locked out of the hospital.

Travel to and from hospital isn't free, nor (often) is parking. Even if you're eligible to get travel expense refunded (VP is) it's so much trouble and the staff are frequently so rude that a lot of people (including VP, and you know how much it takes to put him off) don't ask for the refund.

Getting a GP's letter to say that you're too sick to use public transport (and therefore need hospital transport by one of the minibus type ambulances) requires you to drag yourself down to the surgery in the same week as your hospital appointment, just to get the doctor's letter. If you're too sick to use public transport, that little trip to the GP will often leave you unfit for the journey to your outpatients appointment.
 
http://www.cornishman.co.uk/Food-crisis-worsens-handouts-climb-77/story-21225383-detail/story.html

EMERGENCY food handouts in the South West rose by a shocking 77 per cent last year and up to three times previous figures in some parts of Cornwall, new figures show.

The number of people receiving free meals from foodbanks in the region soared from 59,532 to 105,521, the study by the Trussell Trust Christian charity found.

More than 20 million emergency parcels containing provisions to last for three days were dished out across the country in the year to March, feeding 300,000 children – a 54 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-breadline-kids-up-5-3660605

The true plight of Breadline Britain’s destitute children is exposed today.

A shocking 3.5 million youngsters are living in poverty in this country - and experts predict that figure will soar to 5 million by 2020.

In a devastating development, more and more desperate mothers are turning to prostitution in a bid to put food on the table.

Sick and cancer-stricken children are forced to queue up at food banks to stave off their hunger. And parents clinging on to jobs with zero hours contracts don’t know what money they’ll have from one week to the next.

Medical experts recently wrote an open letter to David Cameron slamming the rise in food poverty, saying families “are not earning enough money to meet their most basic nutritional needs” and that “the welfare system is increasingly failing to provide a robust line of defence against hunger.”
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Greebo said:
It's forcing a stop in treatment by proxy, in the same way as the increased suicide rate since ESA and ATOS assessments came in is murder by proxy. If you can't afford to get yourself there, and if you're too sick/fatigued to make the journey, you're prevented just as much as if you were locked out of the hospital.

Travel to and from hospital isn't free, nor (often) is parking. Even if you're eligible to get travel expense refunded (VP is) it's so much trouble and the staff are frequently so rude that a lot of people (including VP, and you know how much it takes to put him off) don't ask for the refund.

Getting a GP's letter to say that you're too sick to use public transport (and therefore need hospital transport by one of the minibus type ambulances) requires you to drag yourself down to the surgery in the same week as your hospital appointment, just to get the doctor's letter. If you're too sick to use public transport, that little trip to the GP will often leave you unfit for the journey to your outpatients appointment.
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I wish i knew more about the case mentioned.

I hope her GP and consultants are on the case. This is fucking insanity. There must be a legal case to answer here. if someone can't get to their chemo appointments!
 
Here's a company called Mego that thinks running some employment hub facility that charges the unemployed £30 for a CV and two quid for a coffee will solve unemployment!

Chris Leonard, managing director of Mego, said the results were "not surprising" and said: "It's a microcosm of what's happening in every city in the country."

But he stressed there was a difference in ambition between people in London and Plymouth, for instance, and said: "There's regional differences and possibly a different culture here. People are less driven here."

He added: "We know there are jobs out there, but people do not know or believe it.

"The research shows people are ambitious but don't do enough to put themselves in contention."

Mr Leonard said there was a "negative mindframe" which was stopping people getting jobs they would be suited to.

"The big problem here is negativity," he said.
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So just plant some happy seeds in the compost of your consciousness! Maybe that way those overpaid children in Brazil might miraculously win something!
 
private employment consultancy in money charging shocka
Awesome Wells said:
So just plant some happy seeds in the compost of your consciousness! Maybe that way those overpaid children in Brazil might miraculously win something!
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wut?
 
New report and campaign from Mind:

People need support, not sanctions

Catherine Hale, a Work Programme service user, has produced a new report about back-to-work programmes for people with disabilities and health conditions. Mind has supported her with this vital work to help bring about changes to back-to-work support for people with mental health problems.

The report, “Fulfilling Potential? ESA and the fate of the Work Related Activity Group”, is based on the experiences of over 500 people being required to engage in back-to-work schemes. The findings are startling:

- Most people wanted to work if they could find the right sort of job and support

- The Work Programme and Jobcentre Plus were pushing people into generic activities rather than providing specialist support

- The inappropriateness of these activities and the threat of benefits being cut was leaving people feeling very anxious

- People said their health, confidence and sense of purpose in life were all worse after engaging with the programmes.

http://www.mind.org.uk/media/933438/2014-support-not-sanctions-report.pdf

http://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/campaigns/benefits/support,-not-sanctions/

Tell your MP things need to change

As Catherine's report shows, back-to-work programmes are just not helping people with disabilities and health conditions. In fact, for many people they're actually making things worse - leaving them feeling less well, less confident, and further away from work.

We need MPs to read this report and push for urgent changes to these programmes so that people get the support they need to move closer to work. Use our simple campaign tool contact your MP and tell them about the report.

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1705&ea.campaign.id=29312
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They are completely ignoring the charities, who it should be remembered largely colluded with the reforms when it was NL who were introducing them, thus weakening any later response. The Tories are determined to push through with all this no matter what the 'collateral' damage.
 
treelover said:
They are completely ignoring the charities, who it should be remembered largely colluded with the reforms when it was NL who were introducing them, thus weakening any later response. The Tories are determined to push through with all this no matter what the 'collateral' damage.
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I'll just add here that "colluded", while accurate, is simplistic, and that we should acknowledge that most of those charities tied themselves into a double-bind when they bought into the whole Blairite "3rd sector" shite at the beginning of the new Labour hegemony. As soon as they started bidding to supply services, they became dependent on those same contracts. Their collusion was a direct function of that dependency.
 
The Cancer Teen: Dad lost his job to care for me
Schoolgirl Niomi could be forgiven for lashing out with anger that she’s been dealt such a rough hand so young, but what she feels more than anything is guilt.
Because since being diagnosed with leukaemia last year, she and her 12-year-old brother Drey and single dad Tom have been thrust into poverty.
Tom, 39, had worked for years as a gardener. But when his daughter’s illness meant she could spend every day in hospital enduring gruelling treatment, he gave it up so she wasn’t alone. “Dad is on benefits because he can’t get a job because he is looking after me,” explains 14-year-old Niomi.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-breadline-kids-up-5-3660605#ixzz350qlRZT2
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook
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Monsters, no words.
 
PCS Help for claimants to know their rights
17 June 2014

We have teamed up with Unite's unemployed workers section to provide advice to people whose benefits have been stopped.
A leaflet produced by Unite Community and our reps in the Department for Work and Pensions is being distributed across the country and is available on this website.

As well as providing guidance about social security rules and legislation, it offers help on challenging sanctions and what to do if benefits are stopped.

It adds: "Don't face sanctions alone. If you work with other unemployed people you can get support and challenge the injustice of sanctioning."

The leaflet forms part of our campaign against the government's increasingly punitive changes to social security, including the use of sanctions.

In a recent survey of our members in jobcentres 70% of respondents said they believed sanctions had no positive impact and almost two thirds had experienced pressure to refer claimants for a sanction inappropriately.

Download the leaflet
PCS and Unite Community sanctions leaflet
 
Poverty hits twice as many British households as 30 years ago
The Guardian, Thursday 19 June 2014
The number of British households falling below minimum living standards has more than doubled in the past 30 years, despite the size of the economy increasing twofold, a study on poverty and deprivation in the UK claims .

According to the study, 33% of households endure below-par living standards – defined as going without three or more "basic necessities of life", such as being able to adequately feed and clothe themselves and their children, and to heat and insure their homes. In the early 1980s, the comparable figure was 14%.
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The research, billed as the most detailed study ever of poverty in the UK, claims that almost 18 million Britons live in inadequate housing conditions and that 12 million are too poor to take part in all the basic social activities – such as entertaining friends or attending all the family occasions they would wish to. It suggests that one in three people cannot afford to heat their homes properly, while 4 million adults and children are not able to eat healthily.
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Another day, another nightmare for someone.

http://glynismillward189.wordpress....lied-by-government-into-proving-he-cant-work/

Fred says that after yet another demand, he eventually took James – who was born without optic nerves – to their local Jobcentre to prove his point.

The woman behind the counter burst into tears when she saw James, said Fred.

The dad added: “The GP told the DWP that James’ condition will never get better. It will only get worse.

“The Jobcentre said they want more proof than that so I took him down there.

“The assistant was so shocked she cried. She rang head office to say there was no job he could do – only to be told she wasn’t medically qualified to make an assessment.
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Awesome Wells said:
Another day, another nightmare for someone.

http://glynismillward189.wordpress....lied-by-government-into-proving-he-cant-work/
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The woman at the jobcentre bursting into tears says a lot. They're not all heartless bastards. I've had several advisers and most of them think it's horrendous what this government are doing and one of them has admitted being upset to the point of tears. In fact I've been close to tears in a jobcentre before and that set my adviser off too although she hid it well. I'm sure there's a significant number of staff who feel like this spread across the country. It's a bit late now of course but if only they had organised and refused to implement these changes they could've made a huge impact.
 
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