Another Court Disaster For The DWP As Atos Assessments Ruled Unfair

The DWP have lost in the courts again after a tribunal today ruled that the Atos run Work Capability Assessment (WCA) disadvantages people with mental health problems.

This follows a string of legal decisions ruling against the DWP as they have attempted to rush through bungled and poorly thought through welfare reforms.

The tribunal hearing was brought after two claimants supported by the Mental Health Resistance Network (MHRN) were successful in launching  a judicial review into the WCA – the notorious assessment process which has stripped vital benefits from hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled claimants.

According to MHRN: “The judgment is clear: to routinely fail to consider evidence put forward by their own health care practitioners (the DWP current practice) places people with Mental Health Problems at a significant disadvantage which means that the current practice has been – and remains – discriminatory.”

Showing their usual contempt for the courts, the DWP have said they will appeal the decision and the assessments will not stop.

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Boycott Workfare Go To Brighton To Smash Benefit Sanctions

Boycott Workfare joined the Civil Service Rank and File Network (CSRF) and Brighton Benefits Campaign in Brighton yesterday to lobby the PCS Union to take meaningful action on the brutal benefit sanctions currently driving hundreds of thousands of people into unbearable poverty.

The rally was called outside the annual PCS Conference, with claimants, disabled people and public sector workers joining forces to resist the endless attacks on the welfare state that PCS members are being expected to administer.

Shortly after the rally began, disabled protesters from DAN Cymru arrived with an impressive banner and launched into an impromptu direct action, blocking the busy road along the sea front.  They were soon joined by folk from Boycott Workfare and several PCS members for a noisy and angry demonstration which drew a small police response.  One lane was eventually opened to allow some traffic to pass through and the blockade stayed in place for almost an hour whilst PCS conference delegates mingled outside.

When Universal Credit is finally launched, Jobcentre staff themselves, along with many other part-time public sector workers, will face the same regime as unemployed claimants.  Sadly two motions calling for some form of workplace action against these measures were removed from the PCS Conference agenda.  An emergency motion brought before the conference yesterday to discuss sanctions was also not discussed.  The PCS leadership has dismissed calls for any form of real action to defeat benefit sanctions.

The same PCS leadership were conspicuous by their absence as the drama unfurled outside their conference yesterday, but it was reassuring to see some PCS members take to the road and support claimants and disabled people.  This, along with the efforts of the CSRF in organising the lobby, shows that amongst the rank and file at least of the PCS, there is support for practical action to support unemployed or disabled people and low paid workers.

The day also saw the first appearance of the mysterious Sanction Sabs (pictured above), follow them on twitter @SanctionSabs

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Mencap Sponsor Workfare Award At Poverty Pimp Love In

Decent people everywhere will be appalled to learn that the charity Mencap recently sponsored an award at the first ever ERSA Employability Awards.

ERSA are the trade body who were formed in 2005 to lie on behalf of the money grabbing welfare-to-work industry .  They represent the companies such as A4e and G4S who are being paid billions to harass and bully benefit claimants on the Government’s Work Programme.

Despite a disastrous year for this sector, during which almost no-one has found work through the Work Programme,  ERSA seem to have plenty of cash to splash out on a back-slapping awards ceremony.  Even the skiving Employment Minister Mark Hoban managed to drag himself off his tax-payer funded silk cushions to turn up for a free drink.

Mencap sponsored the Large Employer of the Year Award, at a cost of a cool £1000 according to advance publicity for the awards (pdf).  This award to went to B&M Stores, a company who have repeatedly been accused of using workfare and who work closely with poverty pimps Ingeus to recruit staff.

Mencap donors and supporters may be shocked to learn the charity is handing out money to cheer on the welfare-to-work sector, but sadly for those following welfare reform this is no surprise.  Whilst many large disability charities, including Mencap, have distanced themselves from workfare in their shops, they still have their snouts firmly in the welfare reform trough.  Scope, RNIB, Leonard Cheshire Disability and MIND are just some of the charities who, along with Mencap, are paid by the welfare-to-work sector to manage Work Programme sub-contracts.

And as this award ceremony shows, behind the scenes charity bosses are quite happy to stuff their faces with vol au vents and hand out money intended for disabled people to pay for glitzy love-ins with the worst of the corporate sector.

Another familiar face at the awards was Matthew Oakley, who was adding yet another lucrative string to his own personal welfare-to-work racket.  Oakley is a leading member of the right wing think-tank, the Policy Exchange, who recommended many of the current welfare reforms.  Oakley is also paid  £256.80 a day by the tax payer as a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee, the so called independent body of so called experts that scrutinise those welfare reforms.  And last week Oakley was a judge at an awards ceremony handing out prizes to the companieswho are paid to implement the reforms.

Over the last eighteen months, any involvement with forced unpaid labour has become a public relations nightmare for both private companies and charities alike.  These awards suggest the welfare-to-work sector is fighting back.  Companies using workfare may face boycotts and protests, but they might also get a shiny award, sponsored by a national charity to show how lovely they really are.  All those who object to Mencap acting as charitable cover for the crimes of the welfare-to-work sector can contact them on facebook or on twitter @mencap_charity.

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Demand Action On Benefit Sanctions at the PCS Conference

The Civil Service Rank and File Network have called a rally outside the PCS conference this week to demand action from the union on the vicious benefit sanctioning regime.

Benefit sanctions are set to become a huge issue for public sector workers when Universal Credit is fully introduced. Under the new rules even part-time workers will be expected to continually look for ‘more or better paid work’ or face in-work benefits being stopped. This will lead to Jobcentre workers being expected to police and sanction their colleagues, along with other low paid DWP workers.

It is clear how this toxic regime will not just place intolerable pressure on working relations at the DWP, but also could be used to undermine future industrial action.  DWP management will be given unprecedented power over the lives of part-time public sector workers, including the option to send people on workfare during the hours they are not in paid employment.

This is not scare-mongering. 85,000 benefit sanctions were imposed on claimants in just January of this year. Jobcentre workers who do not sanction enough claims are placed under Performance Improvement Plans. PCS members right now are being disciplined for not meeting targets to sanction benefit claims – yet DWP ministers have denied that these targets even exist.

When Universal Credit is launched PCS members at the DWP will not just have the power to sanction their lowest paid colleagues, they will face disciplinary action if they don’t do it often enough.

Astonishingly the PCS leadership have said that this sanctioning regime is not a workplace issue. Two motions calling for urgent  debate on how to take meaningful action against these measures  – and Universal Credit will begin to be rolled out nationally from October this year – have been removed from the PCS Conference agenda.

Claimants have long called for action not words from the PCS to help bring about an end to benefit sanctions. There is no doubting the sincerity of the PCS in their support of claimants and low paid workers, but leaflets and strongly worded statements are no longer enough, if they ever were.

Benefit sanctions mean child poverty, ill health and even in some cases homelessness. Lives can be shattered by decisions Jobcentre workers are forced to take under threat of losing their jobs if they refuse. Very soon some of those having their lives ripped apart by DWP created poverty will be low paid public sector workers. Only collective action from the PCS, along with active support from claimants and low paid members of other unions, will bring this regime to an end.

If the PCS leadership will not let a discussion take place inside the conference on how to fight these devastating attacks on those both in and out of work, then that conversation will have to take place in the street.  Join the lobby, supported by claimant groups including Boycott Workfare and Disabled People Against Cuts, outside the PCS Conference in Brighton on Tuesday 21st May.

Tuesday 21 May, 12.30-14.00
The Brighton Centre, King’s Rd, Brighton, BN1 2GR
Bring flags and banners

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/258534454291849/

Universal Credit and Benefit Sanctions, What Every PCS Member Urgently Needs To Know

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DWP Ordered To Name The Workfare Exploiters

The Information Tribunal ordered the DWP to name the companies and charities involved in workfare at an appeal hearing this work.

A long running war of words has been waging between the DWP and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ever since a Freedom of Information request was submitted by Frank Zola asking for the names of organisations taking placements under the Government’s Mandatory Work Activity scheme.  Three times the DWP have attempted to dodge the ICO’s demand for transparency which resulted in this week’s tribunal hearing.

In an astonishing legal defence the DWP claimed this week that if the public knew who was taking part in the workfare schemes then the entire racket might be in danger of collapse.  Providing an unwitting but glowing testimony to the effectiveness of Boycott Workfare and other anti-workfare campaigners, the department claimed:  “The activities of campaign groups and the results of negative publicity meant that… “a great many placement organisations” had ceased to offer placements. That in turn reduced the numbers of opportunities available across both programmes with a loss of many placements and prospective new placements being at risk.”

The DWP’s wild claims included a shabby, if half-hearted,  attempt to smear anti-workfare campaigners as violent – something which was dismissed out of hand by the tribunal – and even a claim that campaigners might be responsible for increasing unemployment.  This is despite the fact that the DWP’s own evidence shows that forced work has no impact on whether people taking part eventually find a real job.  It appears the department are desperate to blame anyone except themselves for the failure to bring down soaring unemployment.

Perhaps one of the most shocking aspects of the DWP’s evidence is just how far they wanted to go to protect charities from being held to account by their donor and their supporters.  The Charity Commission’s ‘Hallmarks of an Effective Charity’ is very clear that an “effective charity is accountable to the public and others with an interest in the charity in a way that is transparent and understandable”.  Yet, no doubt with the connivance of some of the charities themselves, the DWP have sought to undermine the very foundations of charity governance in an attempt to keep the public in the dark about the activities of the sector.

Unsurprisingly the views of the welfare-to-work industry were also brought in to bolster the DWP’s argument.  Evidence was submitted in which SEETEC warned disclosure of who the workfare exploiters are could put their very organisation at risk.  Another workfare contractor, Ingeus, claimed that it might cost them around £1 million in lost revenue if this information was made public – although by them, they meant us, because all their money has been stolen from the tax payer anyway.

This is a revealing admission from the corporate poverty pimps who have turned forced labour and harassment of the poor into a multi-billion pound scam.  It’s not just DWP policy that could be affected by an escalation in anti-workfare protests according to the industry, but the entire welfare-to-work gravy train.

With this in mind the last word should to go to Boycott Workfare themselves:

“Since the Salvation Army gets a special mention from the DWP for ‘holding the line’ (point 196), you may like to take this opportunity to remind them why this position is just so inconsistent with their Christian values. The Salvation Army UK can be contacted on facebook, by phone (020 7367 4500), by email (info@salvationarmy.org.uk). More background on their involvement and contact details can be found here, or you can tweet at them @salvationarmyuk”

Read the full judgement at: http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DBFiles/Decision/i1016/EA-2012-0207%28+2%29_Judgment_17-05-2013.pdf

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Lying Bastard Wanted: DWP Advertise For Head of News

The DWP are advertising for a News Manager with experience of ‘crisis management’ to take charge of the endless stream of bullshit which pours out of the DWP Press Office.

The advert, spotted by @SmithTonyD over on twitter, explains: “The DWP has led, and continues to lead, the domestic news agenda. Its policies are debated in all forms of media and it will be your responsibility to ensure the Department’s voice is heard where those discussions are taking place.

Reporting to the Director of Communications, you will take this work on within a fully integrated communications directorate, leading our media relations. You will help to inform policy, advise Ministers, brief the media, and build compelling PR campaigns, whilst ensuring we talk directly and efficiently to our audiences.”

The true nature of the role comes later in the job description, where the DWP ask for someone who can be ‘imaginative’ in their solutions.

Welfare-to-work companies often advise searching out those hidden vacancies, and this was pretty well tucked away.  The DWP chose not to advertise the job on their own shambolic Universal Jobmatch website. Concerns have been raised that employers using the bodged government job vacancy site are likely to be swamped as thousands of people apply for jobs they are not qualified for just to meet their  jobseeking activity conditions.

The DWP are obviously keen to make sure they themselves dont have to spend hours wading through applications.  Luckily claimants can apply via the Guardian jobs website.  The salary is a whopping ‘circa £82,000 a year, plus benefits’ (I don’t think that means you can sign on at the same time).  All you have to do is be able to lie through your teeth about unemployed and disabled people for money.

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Defend London’s NHS – Mass Demo This Saturday May 18th

From Defend London NHS

Saturday 18 May, Assemble 12 noon

Concert Hall Approach /Belvedere Rd, Waterloo http://goo.gl/maps/Lg6MT

March to Downing Street then rally in Whitehall at 2pm

This demonstration has been called by an unprecedented coalition of London residents, medical staff, trade unions and health campaigners who have come together to raise the alarm regarding the biggest threats to A & E’s, maternity units and in-hospital care for a generation.

Closures planned across the capital include nine accident and emergency departments, a number of maternity units and thousands of hospital beds that campaigners believe will put lives at risk..

Hospitals and community services are also threatened with take-over by multi-national private companies. Hundreds of thousands of London residents have pledged their opposition to these privatisation plans for the NHS.

Across the capital, tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest and demonstrate to save their local hospitals. 80,000 signed a petition against the closures in North West London. 25,000 joined the demonstration to defend Lewisham hospital.

The local campaigns have joined up to call on the government to stop these closures. We are working together to undermine the government’s divisive tactics of playing one hospital off against another. Instead we are demanding that the government provide the funding needed for safe levels of care across the capital.

Visit the website for details of local meet up points: http://defendlondonsnhs.wordpress.com/

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