This Is What Austerity Looks Like – First Suicide Due To Bedroom Tax Reported

The welfare reform death toll has risen by one more tragic victim the Sunday People is reporting.  The papers says:

Ten days ago Stephanie Bottrill sat in the redbrick terrace house which had been home for 18 years to write notes to her loved ones, the Sunday People reports .

She ripped the pages from a spiral-bound notebook and placed them neatly in little brown envelopes.

There was one for her son. Another for her daughter. Her mother. Friends. And a very special one for the year-old grandson she doted on.

Then in the early hours of last Saturday Stephanie, 53, left her home for the last time, leaving her cat Joey behind as the front-door clicked shut.

She crossed her road in Meriden Drive, Solihull, to drop one of her letters and her house keys through a neighbour’s letterbox. Then she walked 15 minutes through the sleeping estate to Junction 4 of the M6.

And at 6.15am she walked straight into the path of a northbound lorry and was killed instantly. Stephanie Bottrill had become the first known suicide victim of the hated Bedroom Tax.

In the letter to her son, Steven, 27, she had written: “Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the Government.”

This is what happens when people are left with nothing at all, something the millionaire scum in Government will never understand.  Money runs out for most of us, and very quickly if you are on benefits.  It’s hard to even think about anything else if you have no money.  If it goes on for days, or weeks or longer it can be torture.   Even before welfare reforms the benefits system was not generous.  It did contain some strange anomalies, usually down to the huge cost of renting in some parts of the UK, but people on benefits were already living in dire poverty.  It was landlords living it up, not claimants.  Yet a handful of unusual cases – often large homeless families in expensive, emergency housing – have been presented as the norm and used as cover to slash social security even further.

When you take away money from people in already in poverty it drives them to destitution.  Desperate people do desperate things.  Yes there will always be a complex combination of factors in tragic deaths such as these.  But homelessness, hunger and despair are not trivial matters that can be cleared up with a bit of counselling or a work related activity meeting with some welfare-to-work poverty pimp.  They don’t go away – not without money.  So whilst Iain Duncan Smith hands out billions to Atos, A4e and his friends in the private sector remember Stephanie Bottrill.  She didn’t need incentivising, assessing, motivating to find those ‘hidden vacancies’ or any other bullshit.  She was too ill to work, and there aren’t any vacancies, hidden or otherwise in many parts of the UK.

She needed twenty quid a week because she was poor and couldn’t pay her rent and was going to lose her home.  What little she had in this world, this Government took away, and now she is dead.  And she was someone’s mum.  The price of her life was  just half of what Iain Duncan Smith spends on breakfast in a day, let alone a week.

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Chris Grayling Hands Probation Service Over To Bunch Of Crooks

Bungling Secretary of State for Justice, Chris Grayling, has announced plans to hand over probation services to some of the shadiest companies operating in the UK.

Grayling is introducing a payment by results scheme for new probation contracts, similar to the one he helped launch on the Work Programme back when he was the bungling Employment Minister.  The Work Programme so far has been an unmitigated disaster as private sector poverty pimps have sat back and let the cash roll in from start fees, cherry picked the easiest to help and forced them into workfare, and largely abandoned everyone else.

Astonishingly it is likely to be many of the very same companies who have screwed up the Work Programme who will be let loose on probation services.  G4S, the company most famous for the death at their hands of Jimmy Mubenga, and the bodged Olympic Security fiasco, are certain to be on the list of those bidding for contracts.  A4e, the workfare company who have faced a string of fraud allegations, have also long been eying up probation services, presumably on the basis that they know a thing or two about crime themselves.

One of the key measures private companies are likely to be paid out on is whether they are able to stop people re-offending and ending up back inside.  This will mean that from the board levels down to the front line staff – who will no doubt be working to strict targets – it will be in the financial interests of the companies to cover up any further crimes probation workers may suspect have been committed.

Will a G4S worker really help the police with their inquiries, as grassing probation officers often do, if it means they won’t hit their targets that month?  G4S’ experience of getting away with crime could prove invaluable in keeping those ‘outcome’ payments flowing into their grubby pockets.

Experienced crooks like A4e and G4S giving people tips on how to stay out of jail for what will be trivial offences in many cases may turn out to be no bad thing.  But the potential for abuse is terrifying.  Grayling is said to favour the ‘black box’ approach to commissioning services.  This means all he cares about is the price, as under these kinds of contracts companies involved are given free reign to do whatever they choose to try and hit their targets.  Just like the Work Programme, these companies could be given unprecedented powers over people’s lives with barely any scrutiny.

According to The Guardian, the public sector will not be allowed to bid for the draconian new contracts which will cover 70% of the work carried out by probation services.  Social Workers should take note, this won’t end with probation staff.

It seems that Chris Grayling is intent on exporting the shambles he left   behind at the DWP into the Ministry of Justice.  Like some malevolent  jumped-up imp, he seems to think he’s being tough by prancing around scattering chaos wherever he treads.  In truth he’s far more Norman Wisdom – without the wit or talent- then he ever will be Norman Tebbit.

And when it all comes crashing down compulsive liar Grayling will no doubt slink off somewhere else in Government, turning his back on the shambles he’s created and claiming “it wasn’t me guv”.

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Turn up the heat on British Gas: protest at the British Gas AGM on Monday 13th May

From Fuel Poverty Action

When? Monday 13th May, from 1pm
Where? Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London, SW1P 3EE
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Vf1rI

On Monday 13th May, Centrica – parent company of British Gas – are holding their 2013 AGM.

British Gas bosses and shareholders will be planning to pat themselves on the back after another year of soaring profits. We’re planning to turn their AGM into a public embarrassment.

While shareholder activists from Fuel Poverty Action, the Greater London Pensioners’ Association and Disabled People Against Cuts will be speaking out inside the AGM, we’d like you to join us for a protest outside.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH BRITISH GAS?

>> British Gas are making a killing from annual energy bill price hikes. British Gas bosses earn multi-million pound payouts every year on the backs of the millions of us forced to choose between heating and eating.

>> British Gas are buying off ministers to ensure that energy policy prioritises their profits over the public interest.

>> British Gas are lobbying for a new generation of dirty and expensive gas power stations instead of cheaper, clean renewable energy.

TURN UP THE HEAT…

Join us outside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster from 1pm. Bring banners and placards and come along to speak out against British Gas and the impact of their profiteering on our lives.

Community owned renewable energy and mass investment in insulation and energy efficiency would bring down bills, keep our homes warm, tackle climate change and put power back in people’s hands.

There are alternatives, but Big Six bullies like British Gas are getting in the way. They’ve got the government in their pockets, so it’s down to us to turn up the heat…

http://fuelpovertyaction.org.uk/

Above pic from: http://occupynewsnetwork.co.uk/reclaim-the-power/

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Iain Duncan Smith Not A Lying Bastard Claims DWP

The DWP have taken to twitter in a crude attempt to defend themselves from the accusation that Iain Duncan Smith has been misusing statistics.

Showing their utter contempt for the comments made by Andrew Dilnot, the head of the UK Statistics Authority, they are clearly attempting to show that Iain Duncan Smith was right in his conclusions about the impact of the Benefit Cap, despite the evidence saying the exact opposite.

Astonishingly the DWP then go on to re-iterate Mark Hoban’s claim that  “DWP staff & claimants (are) telling us cap is impacting behaviour & leading to those affected getting work”.

They also point out that everyone affected by the cap has been contacted by the Department.  The implication is that the DWP has some information on reports from claimants and DWP staff about the impact of the benefit cap.  These statistics, or reports, have not been published.

This is a shocking snub from the DWP which shows just how far they are prepared to manipulate the truth to defend the brutal welfare reforms.  The UK Statistics Authority has accused them of making claims about people finding jobs due to the benefit caps which are not supported by evidence.  The Authority has even warned they are breaching the official Code of Practice on for Official Statistics.

The DWP have responded that they have information, not yet published, which proves Iain Duncan Smith’s claims are true, despite the official statistics showing otherwise. This makes a mockery of independent regulation of government statistics. Even when they’ve been caught fibbing the DWP cannot bring themselves to back down and have instead launched a petulant attempt to defend Iain Duncan Smith’s lies.

There’s a petition about this, for those that do petitions, at: https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/work-pensions-committee-hold-ids-to-account-for-his-use-of-statistics-2

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Iain Duncan Smith Is A Lying Bastard – It’s Official Says UK Statistics Boss

A post on the Guardian Politics blog reveals that the UK Statistics Authority have accused Iain Duncan Smith of misusing statistics.

In response to a letter from the TUC, the head of body which oversees official statistics, claims :

“We have concluded that the statement attributed to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions that ‘Already we’ve seen 8,000 people who would have been affected by the cap move into jobs. This clearly demonstrates that the cap is having the desired impact’ is unsupported by the official statistics published by the Department on 15 April.”

The letter can be read in full on the Guardian website.

UPDATE:  The Chair of the Statistics Authority has also written to Iain Duncan Smith directly claiming that the statistics to not comply with the Code of Practice:

In the manner and form published, the statistics do not comply fully with the principles of the Code of Practice, particularly in respect of accessibility to the sources of the data, information about the methodology and quality of the statistics, and the suggestion that the statistics were shared with the media in advance of their publication.

In March, when considering a complaint about the handling of statistics on child support, I was told that senior DWP officials had reiterated to their staff the seriousness of their obligations under the Code of Practice and that departmental procedures would be reviewed.2 The Board of the Statistics Authority would welcome further assurance that the working arrangements within the department give sufficient weight to the professional role and public responsibilities of statisticians.

The letter can be downloaded at (PDF): http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/reports—correspondence/correspondence/letter-from-andrew-dilnot-to-nicola-smith-09052013.pdf

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The £300 A Day Youth Unemployment Conference Where Unemployed People Aren’t Welcome

A youth employment conference is taking place in London today where assorted workfare sharks and poverty pimps will be discussing the latest ways exploit young unemployed people whilst fleecing the tax payer.

Spokespeople from the welfare to work sector will be out in force all day pretending that they can fix unemployment by fixing unemployed people.  Both G4S and Working Links are listed as sponsors of the event

Unemployed people themselves will not be welcome at the event which is being held in the prestigious (and expensive) QE2 Conference Centre.  Some tickets cost an astonishing £612, the same amount a young person workfare would receive whilst working full time for over 11 weeks.

The hashtag for the event is #YEC2013 where workfare exploiters will be patting themselves on their backs over how much money they are making out of unemployment whilst they shovel vol au vents down their over-privileged necks.  Tell them what you think or contact the conference organisers @CESIevents

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Doctors Warn of The Hidden Costs of Welfare Reform

A letter written by Scottish Ministers to Iain Duncan Smith reveals one of the often overlooked consequences of the savage cuts to social security.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Health Secretary Alex Neil claim that the brutally flawed Work Capability Assessment used to determine eligibility for sickness and disability benefits is creating a “workload problem” for GPs.  This follows a recent letter signed by over 25 doctors and health professionals warning that the process is not only “cruel” but has also led to “significant adverse events such as self-harm and suicides which many of us have witnessed”.

It will not just be the NHS which begins to creak under the strain of welfare reforms, as millions of people are driven into destitution and a benefits regime which is increasingly designed to punish the poor.  As pointed out yesterday, when Universal Credit is fully introduced, parents of teenagers may find themselves expected to work, or attend workfare for many of the hours their children are not in school.  Leaving possibly hundreds of thousands of teenagers to wander the streets could create an explosion of anti-social behaviour, bullying and crime.  Benefit sanctions, as one leading homelessness charity has already warned, could lead to people being forced to beg and steal to survive.

The impact on policing, courts and prisons could be astronomical as parents are no longer permitted to care for their children and are sent on workfare instead.  The cost to the communities we live in, and to those children themselves, can not even begin to be measured.

Street homelessness is rising sharply, and the bedroom tax, benefit cap and housing benefit cuts can only add to that.  A think tank recently warned that one in four children will be living in poverty by 2020 as a direct result of changes to benefits.  Iain Duncan Smith’s crass attempts to redefine poverty as a personal failing rather than an economic disaster will not change the consequences of creating a society in which a quarter of young people are near destitute.

One of architects of welfare reform, Chris Grayling, once alleged that an area of Manchester was akin to the fictional representation of Baltimore in the television series The Wire.  Baltimore has a horrifically high murder rate and the show depicts a  flourishing drugs trade which all to often fills the vacuum in the absence of socialised protection for the poorest.  Grayling couldn’t have been more wrong about Manchester, yet this Government seem intent on making that absurd comparison come true.

The UK did not have an overly generous welfare system despite the claims made by all three political parties.  The main reason the social security system became so complicated is years of thinly designed cuts, bodges, anti-fraud initiatives and endless schemes aimed at trying to cure people of unemployment.  The reason the social security is so expensive is largely down to the astronomical costs involved simply in keeping a roof over your head in the UK.

The last Tory Government launched an all out assault on social housing – with the end result being soaring private sector rents and a rocketing housing benefit bill.  Iain Duncan Smith’s reckless experiment with welfare goes far beyond what even Thatcher would have dared suggest.

Those on benefits, whether in or out of work are now seeing their incomes decimated, and it’s only going to get worse.  No-one can truly know the social consequences of the changes that are taking place, which are all too often hidden under the cover of relentless propaganda claiming that the poorest people in the country are secretly living it up at the tax payers expense.

In truth this country already had poverty that should shame any nation as rich as the UK even before these changes to social security.  But even that may pail into insignificance compared to what is to come.  One thing is surely beyond doubt however.  Whatever is left of society after these reforms are fully implemented, it will be expensive for all of us.

Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid