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campaign against welfare cuts and poverty

The government planned to “modernise” the DSA, which students in England can receive to meet the extra study costs arising from their disabilities, long-term mental and physical health conditions, and learning difficulties.
Some changes have been postponed for at least two years after protests from students. But from 2015, many of the provisions the DSA currently pays for, such as standard computers for disabled students, will no longer be covered.
Chloe Metzger, 20, a student at Kingston University, receives the DSA for her anxiety and dyslexia. She gets one-on-one mentoring and dyslexia support, along with a laptop, printer and various software.
“Before I started with my mental health mentor, I was a different person,” she says. “I’ve learned to live with my conditions and can look forward to the future.”
Bethany Payne, 18, a student at the University of Exeter, receives the allowance for her repetitive strain injury. “I can’t write and I rely on a dictaphone and a laptop. I’m on a very low income, so I couldn’t buy those things myself.
“Young people applying to university with a disability might be barred from attending in future, because they can’t afford the cost,” she says.

http://www.theguardian.com/educatio...s-how-austerity-cuts-hit-young-people-hardest
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FFS, the DSA is a must for disabled students...
 
A FOI request has caused the DWP to admit it has carried out sixty secret investigations into benefit related deaths in the last three years, reported by Disability News Service here.

John McArdle, co-founder of Black Triangle, said that if 60 people had died in a major accident there would have been “hell to pay” and a “massive inquiry”.

He said NHS figures showed a general rise in self-harm and suicide, which Black Triangle (BT) believes is connected with the effects of “cuts and austerity”.

McArdle said he would like to know how many coroners had made recommendations to DWP in the wake of inquests into benefit-related suicides and other deaths.

He said: “I think the public has a right to know whether coroners have made these recommendations to prevent similar tragedies happening again.”
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Also mentioned in an article in the Independent here.
 
More kicking... new measures to be piloted to get tougher on ill/disabled people.

Today we are announcing a package of ESA measures to improve further the support we offer disabled people and people with health conditions.

“In early 2015 we are introducing a number of pilots to help us better understand what support ESA claimants need to help them move back into work. The more intensive support pilot will increase the frequency and intensity of Work Coach support for the first six months following completion of the Work Programme.

“The more intensive support pilot will increase the frequency and intensity of Work Coach support for the first six months following completion of the Work Programme.

“In specific ESA ‘hotspots’ (areas that need the most help) we will be piloting a more active regime for ESA claimants. Those awaiting a WCA will be offered voluntary employment-related Work Coach interventions and we will also be testing occupational health advice for Work Coaches and back pain management support for claimants with this common musculoskeletal condition.

“From early 2015, we are implementing a trial of the Claimant Commitment for ESA claimants at various stages of the claimant journey. Universal Credit claimants are required to accept a Claimant Commitment as a condition of entitlement, so the trial will inform our preparation for the cultural transformation that the introduction of Universal Credit requires for claimants and staff.
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http://www.welfareweekly.com/dwp-gets-tough-sickness-benefit-claimants/
 
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Blagsta said:
I dunno about anyone else, but I'm sick of seeing people say "why doesn't someone do something" (yes, I know actually some people are, but y'know...).

Let's do something. I'm in south London. What I'd like to see is ideas for tactics/strategy on this thread and to arrange an initial meeting.

Anyone up for it? Or am I pissing in the wind?
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I'm in Cardiff. Anyone know of any action groups there??
 
‘This AGM calls for urgent action to halt the abrogation of the human rights of sick and disabled people by the ruling Coalition government and its associated corporate contractors.
Calls for Amnesty International UK to urgently work with grassroots human rights campaigns by and for sick and disabled people, carers and their families. And to set up a specialist Disability Human Rights network…..
To protect the human rights of people with disabilities, ill people and carers to halt this regressive and lethal assault on our rights.’
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https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petitio..._Iain_Duncan_Smith_for_crimes_agains/?adhcAbb

Posted on petition to indict Cameron and Smith, I wouldn't be too hopeful though, I remember contacting Liberty about these issues, they didn't want to know, apparently benefits are 'ringfenced' from their areas of concern.
 
Leeds council is going to cut council tax benefit for unemployed working age people:

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....b-or-lose-your-council-tax-benefits-1-7007859

As part of the revised scheme, “non-protected working age” CTS claimants will receive 25 per cent less than they would have got through the CTB scheme and will have to pay a quarter of their council tax bill themselves from April 1 2015.
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That's a couple of hundred quid a year for a Band A property. Labour council, but they'll argue that they're constrained by government cuts to the CT benefit grant, so pick on the already demonised targets.
 
Dogsauce said:
Leeds council is going to cut council tax benefit for unemployed working age people:

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....b-or-lose-your-council-tax-benefits-1-7007859



That's a couple of hundred quid a year for a Band A property. Labour council, but they'll argue that they're constrained by government cuts to the CT benefit grant, so pick on the already demonised targets.
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Which will almost certainly mean that either next year or the year after, because of further cuts (and there will be further cuts, because neoliberal economic "logic" dictates that there must be), they'll do the same to disabled people who either get a concessionary rate or full CTB.
 
ViolentPanda said:
Which will almost certainly mean that either next year or the year after, because of further cuts (and there will be further cuts, because neoliberal economic "logic" dictates that there must be), they'll do the same to disabled people who either get a concessionary rate or full CTB.
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They'll just have to cut back on flat screen tellies, drugs and booze, right?

Mind, I think the press and the pool of wisdom that is local newspaper commentators have decided that tattoos are the new flat screen tellies, as far as right wing tropes for attacking the poor go. They don't like that Jack Monroe.
 
Dogsauce said:
They'll just have to cut back on flat screen tellies, drugs and booze, right?
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How do I cut back on something (a flat screen telly) that I don't have?
As for drugs, all of mine are prescription!

Mind, I think the press and the pool of wisdom that is local newspaper commentators have decided that tattoos are the new flat screen tellies, as far as right wing tropes for attacking the poor go. They don't like that Jack Monroe.
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They don't like anyone who doesn't fit their simplistic set of stereotypes, to be fair. :)
 
ViolentPanda said:
How do I cut back on something (a flat screen telly) that I don't have?
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What you're supposed to do if you don't have a flat screen telly is berate people poorer than you that do. I think that's how it's supposed to work.

There's must be some bufton tufton types out there that think these things still cost five grand, rather than being the sort of thing you can pull out of skips these days.

(I'm stubbornly sticking with my CRT telly until it breaks, barely watch the thing)
 
On the Broadcast news, Sky, etc, Esther McVile's Christmas present for the over 50's: more intensive 'help' for the over 50's.

Which will mean more sanctions, cheap labour, misery

and why does the MSM take what the Govt say on benefit issues, etc at face value, they don't in other areas of the economy, etc.
 
Dogsauce said:
Leeds council is going to cut council tax benefit for unemployed working age people:

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....b-or-lose-your-council-tax-benefits-1-7007859



That's a couple of hundred quid a year for a Band A property. Labour council, but they'll argue that they're constrained by government cuts to the CT benefit grant, so pick on the already demonised targets.
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Shows how 'localism' can be very brutal and reactionary, parish relief redux, the Tories knew this when they de-centralised Council Tax Relief
 
Sue Marsh has gone over to the dark side.


WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK..!!!

""And so to the point. From today, I will be responsible for making sure that as many of those improvements are made during this period of change and pause as possible. MAXIMUS have asked me to be their Head of Customer Experience, and it seems, have given me fairly free reign to devise a strategy to bring about a wide range of improvements to the service from a customer perspective.
The job covers all aspects of customer experience and the easiest thing I can do is copy the job description below. I hope anyone I've already lost to explosions of horror might at least take a look at it and imagine me doing the job. It is not insignificant in scope. ""
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Her 'New Job'
 
:( Sue was always a bit on the edge, labour party reformist type, but I'm surprised and saddened she's gone to work for fucking Maximus, I wonder if it was still ATOS doing the assessments whether she'd have taken a job there.
 
BigTom said:
:( Sue was always a bit on the edge, labour party reformist type, but I'm surprised and saddened she's gone to work for fucking Maximus, I wonder if it was still ATOS doing the assessments whether she'd have taken a job there.
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She was 'talking' to Atos before the Maximus contract was announced.
Edit. It was Unum she was talking to BigTom

The Unum Paradox

This....

marsh.jpg
 
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Frankie Jack said:
I'm surprised by the lack of comment on this to be honest. :rolleyes:
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I'm not too familiar with Sue Marsh, so I can't tell if her taking the Maximus shilling was a cynical move on her part, or whether her desperation/naivete motivated her.

But in either case, this is definitely a cynical ploy on the part of Maximus. However I sense an opportunity here to expose their hypocrisy; regardless of whether Marsh's intentions are sincere or otherwise, I very much doubt that Maximus will clean up their act in any meaningful way. These cunts are in it for the money and anything else is purely incidental, which is why I'm disappointed, angry even, that there isn't more outrage over these grasping poverty pimps.

I just don't get why more people don't notice the huge disconnect between the fact that so much emphasis is placed on the supposed importance of being in work, and the fact that absolutely nobody is obligated to garuantee a paying job to anybody. And even when somebody gets a job, that's no assurance that the pay will be enough to live on without some kind of assistance, especially these days. What seems so obvious to me seems to completely fly over the heads of all too many people, even those people whose position in life should make the contradiction plain, or so one would think.

There are still more people seeking work than there are vacancies, despite the politicians crowing about the improving economy (I haven't actually checked the latest figures, but I am reasonably certain). As long as that is the case, that means punishing people for being unemployed (via sanctions, absurd JSA conditions, workfare and every day signing) absolutely cannot have anything to do with getting people into work. Indeed, I would argue that regardless of the status of the job market, benefits sanctions actually demonstrably harm a jobseeker's prospects of finding work, as their time and effort is diverted more on trying to survive than on jobseeking. How is one expected to be able to do well at interviews if one has not eaten sufficiently, or if one cannot afford to wash clothes properly? Haven't there also been reports/studies that show the ineffectiveness of crap like the Work Program as well?

I'm sorry that this post has devolved into a generalised rant, but I'm really feeling this after having my last job end. I'm back under the yoke of the DWP and it's just so frustrating when I see newspaper headlines drip-drip-drip their poison into the social discourse with their outrageous stories about a statistically insignificant minority of claimants (or if there aren't any that day, they just make shit up). It makes me feel like shit, and I'm a young and reasonably healthy person with no mental issues. I can only imagine how much worse it must be for those less fortunate than I am.

It sometimes seems that present society has a severe empathy deficit, which unlike the financial deficit causes real harm to actual human beings. There is some consolation in the fact that this empathy deficit is environmentally produced rather than inherent, but I can't help but worry about how long before it's properly addressed.

FUCK
 
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