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http://prolapsarian.tumblr.com/post/34020269905/the-effects-of-the-benefit-sanctions
Prolapsarian


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The effects of the benefit sanctions

From today (21/10/12) new sanctions on benefits are being rolled out by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), whereby people who don’t comply with the terms of their receipt of benefits can have their benefits docked for up to three years. The reasons for such sanctions being handed out include not applying for the jobs suggested by JobCentre staff, turning down offers of work - even if work is entirely inappropriate, refusing to do unpaid work - regardless of the conditions of that work, and missing appointments. It’s worth remembering that the JobCentre have targets to move people off benefits, and in the current situation in which there really aren’t enough jobs, that people are being moved off benefits by sanction and not by getting employed. It is also worth remembering that more people applying for jobs does not make more jobs appear.
Anyhow, I was mainly interested in trying to discover how benefits sanctions actually affect people - given that benefits are set at pretty much the minimum level to keep you alive, the prospect of living for three years without that, I imagine, would likely result in a) destitution, and b) death. I’m really interested in whether the government has impact-assessed or risk-assessed this change of policy. Unsurprisingly there is little in the way of research on people undergoing benefits sanctions, but having gone through the docs on the DWP site, I found a couple of useful reports. I’m just going to paste a couple of block quotes here in order that you can get a flavour of what these sanctions actually mean. The first is from a report on the effects of benefit sanctions on offenders from 2003 (http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2003-2004/rrep198.pdf)
“One group appeared to have experienced little financial hardship. For these offenders, the sanction meant they had not had the money for things like buying clothes for themselves or toys for their children, renting videos, and going out. They reported having to buy cheaper food and cutting back on discretionary spending during the sanction period. ‘I just went without cigarettes, went without like going out for drinks and just cut back really.’ (Male, 23, CPRO, Sanctioned, IS 40%)
Others experienced more severe financial impacts, with problems paying for food, heating and electricity. These impacts were described by people experiencing an Income Support reduction as well as the 100% Jobseeker’s Allowance sanction. They described buying less or cheaper food or missing meals, and occasionally reported going without food for periods of time. Offenders reported that they had also cut back on or gone without heating or lighting for periods. ‘Without that money they were taking off me, I couldn’t run my fire, I was going without gas and electric.’ (Female, 19, CRO, Sanctioned, IS 40%)
There were also reports of living circumstances becoming more unstable because of the sanction. Offenders who lived with their parents said they had been threatened with being thrown out, or told to leave, because they were unable to contribute to their board during the sanction. Offenders living in rented accommodation also described being unable to pay rent due, above Housing Benefit. There were reports of being threatened with eviction (none had actually been evicted), and falling into arrears.
Offenders had also been unable to pay outstanding fines from previous offences, or fines imposed for the breach for which they had been sanctioned, and some received a summons to court or were threatened with repossession. There were other outstanding loans on which people had not been able to make repayments, such as Crisis Loans, informal loans from family or friends, and a debt owed to drug dealers.
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How can the DWP still have the gall to call claimants 'customers' when we have no say whatsoever in their shit, sanctionable services. Just be honest and call us expensive, unshiftable, useless stock and be fucking done with the bullshit..!!
 
Frankie Jack said:
How can the DWP still have the gall to call claimants 'customers' when we have no say whatsoever in their shit, sanctionable services. Just be honest and call us expensive, unshiftable, useless stock and be fucking done with the bullshit..!!
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It suggests we have a choice, as a customer we choose to go to the job centre rather than get a job. If they used client it would suggest we had a need for their services
 
Workers are increasingly depending on benefits to pay their rent, the body which represents English housing associations has warned.
The National Housing Federation says a failure to build homes has led to an 86% rise in UK workers claiming housing benefit from May 2009-May 2012 because of soaring rents and house prices.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20023113

The government's solution to this poverty explosion? Raise wages? Cap rents? Build more council houses? Nope, build more houses for fucking buy-to-let landlords.
 


Apologies if this has already been posted, a very brave guy questions his ATOS assessor about their suitability to undertake the examination...
 
apologies if this housing federation report has been posted over the weekend .. number of working claimants of benefit has risen 83% over the past 3 years, and rents have risen 37% doubling the bill..

Extra 10,000 working claimants per month:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/22/working-people-housing-benefit-report

Housing benefit bill doubles as rents rise 37%:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...ng-benefit-doubles-landlords-demand-more.html

but of course the answer to this is to remove HB for under 25s :facepalm:
 
Just spotted "2020: what welfare state?" which concludes:
Through this complex combination of cuts and welfare an entire layer of infrastructure and support is being taken out the state: your needs have to be more acute to access support, and the safety net of support for when times are toughest is starting to develop some gaping holes. What is more, we are only two years into at least five of sustained cuts in public funding. Some projections suggest that austerity is here to stay for at least a decade, and in the past few weeks we have heard of a further £10 billion in Welfare reductions. By 2020, will we have any safety net left at all?
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:mad:
 
Council Tax Benefit change 'to create poll tax Mk II'

By Andrew Fagg Politics producer, BBC Radio 4
_54965993_counciltax2.jpg
Council tax benefit changes are set to come into force next April
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

The peer who designed what became known as the "poll tax" in the 1980s has warned that Council Tax Benefit cuts risk creating a "poll tax Mark 2".
Lord Jenkin says the cuts will mean that from next April large numbers of poorer households will be asked to pay council tax for the first time.
The government needed to be prepared for a backlash, he told the BBC.
Ministers say the Council Tax Benefit bill doubled under Labour and reform is needed to cut the UK's budget deficit.
About £500m - 10% of the total - is being cut from the fund for Council Tax Benefit for England, Wales and Scotland next year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20039452
 
Labour Calls For Urgent Investigation Over ‘Misleading’ Atos Bid Information

Atos suggested in the tender documents that organisations such as GMCDP, Disability Cornwall and ecdp would help it design “disability awareness training” for its staff, and work with it on how to communicate with disabled people claiming PIP.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) made it clear in August that the successful PIP assessment bids had “demonstrated strong evidence… of close working with disabled people’s representative groups”, after it awarded two regional contracts to Atos and one to the outsourcing giant Capita.
But GMCDP, Disability Cornwall and ecdp were horrified this week when told by DNS that they had been mentioned in Atos’s tender documents.
 
Frankie Jack said:
Labour Calls For Urgent Investigation Over ‘Misleading’ Atos Bid Information

Atos suggested in the tender documents that organisations such as GMCDP, Disability Cornwall and ecdp would help it design “disability awareness training” for its staff, and work with it on how to communicate with disabled people claiming PIP.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) made it clear in August that the successful PIP assessment bids had “demonstrated strong evidence… of close working with disabled people’s representative groups”, after it awarded two regional contracts to Atos and one to the outsourcing giant Capita.
But GMCDP, Disability Cornwall and ecdp were horrified this week when told by DNS that they had been mentioned in Atos’s tender documents.
Click to expand...

Oooh, what a surprise, Atos telling porkies!
 
Rutita1 said:
http://mikesivier.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/police-move-on-campaigners-for-criminal-acts-against-dwp/
Click to expand...


I honestly think this should have its own thread as this is something entirely different and worthy of everyone's attention. Seriously, this isn't about ATOS, it's a Freedom of Speech thing innit

Furthermore, to bring it more attention, I think you should leave ATOS/DWP out of subject title so more people read it, otherwise they may just think "not another ATOS post" :D
 
Minnie_the_Minx said:
I honestly think this should have its own thread as this is something entirely different and worthy of everyone's attention. Seriously, this isn't about ATOS, it's a Freedom of Speech thing innit

Furthermore, to bring it more attention, I think you should leave ATOS/DWP out of subject title so more people read it, otherwise they may just think "not another ATOS post" :D
Click to expand...

Go for it hun! :)
 
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