Today marks the launch of Universal Credit, the all encompassing change to the welfare system that was furiously scribbled down on the back on an envelope after Iain Duncan Smith watched an episode of Shameless.
The changes, which will prove devastating for many of the lowest income families, are as inept as they are callous and likely to lead to unprecedented chaos. The decision to restrict the roll out of Universal Credit to just a handful of claimants from one Manchester Jobcentre shows how even DWP Ministers are running scared of the new digital by default system.
A gushing press release from the DWP already reveals one major flaw even in this small trial. Addressing concerns that many, if not most, claimants do not have internet access at home, the DWP boast: “Eight computers will be available at Ashton-Under-Lyne Jobcentre Plus to help people who do not have access to the internet, and over 130 computers will also be available at certain libraries and council offices in Tameside.”
Making a claim for Universal Credit will involve providing huge amounts of personal information to the DWP via the internet. Many claimants will have never used a computer before and have little understanding of online security.
It is unlikely Iain Duncan Smith, or Lord Fraud, have ever used an internet cafe or library to access the web. If they did, they might have noticed that it is not uncommon to visit a site such as facebook or yahoo and find the person who used the computer before you is still logged in.
This is one of the reasons that banks warn: “As you cannot be certain about the security of public wireless networks or computers in public places (like a library or internet café) you should be cautious about using internet banking services in these situations. Never change your security details while using a public wireless network or a public computer.”
Far from just changing your security details, such as your password, the DWP seem to be actively encouraging people to make their entire initial claim from public computers. In some cases this could mean the next person to sit down at that machine could have complete access to a previous user’s Universal Credit account. Even if the library or internet cafe uses software to clear caches and remove passwords after each session (and not all do), anyone looking over someone’s shoulder will be able to steal their log in details and gain access to their account.
This is not the first time Iain Duncan Smith has played fast and loose with claimant’s online safety. The government job search website Universal Jobmatch has already been plagued by spam, scams and spoof vacancies. This hasn’t stopped IDS throwing caution to the wind and not just recommending people use libraries to access Universal Credit, but leaving many claimants no other choice.
For all the DWP’s talk about getting tough on benefit fraud, they don’t appear to have a clue about protection from online fraud. Whilst there is no secure way for people to access their Universal Credit accounts then Iain Duncan Smith has created an identity fraudster’s free for all that could turn into a living nightmare for some of the most marginalised people in the UK.
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the void 
It is clear IDS has no interest in the welfare of the benefit claimants. WHO ON EARTH CAN AFFORD TO PAY FOR INTERNET CONNECTIONS AT HOME WHEN BENEFITS DON’T EVEN ALLOW PEOPLE TO FEED AND CLOTHE THEIR KIDS.
The only thing he cares about is his system designed to bring even more misery to the most vulnerable members of our society.
Yes, especially if claimants are expected to apply for jobs for 35 hours a week now.
@michael fowke for anyone who dont know avg fee per hour in internet cafe is £1 in some places in central london its £2 per hour..i’ve done 6 or 7 hours per day in them places..so £6-7 a day then theres printing, refreshments..and wotnot else..
I bet it’s only a matter of time before someone invents an App that does it for you, just leave it running and apply for jobs in your sleep! (no comfort to those without internet access though)
For any My Little Pony fans here-IDS reminds me of Discord, the spirit of chaos. It’s a pity he can’t be turned to stone for a thousand years like Discord was.
thomas m….you’re sharp…so that is where he was radicalized…it fits like a clove…
all i can see is 0hr contacts…a few hours work a month…and more sanctions…if one is not called to do more work..by ones new master..i mean employer…wedge thin end…
this could be interesting ” About DWP
Department for Work and Pensions
A central Government department dealing with those citizens of working age and beyond.
Providing claims and financial assistance to those are working or are unable to work.
Securing and ensuring the ageing population are catered for financially as they end the working life.
Supporting those who are incapable of working due to long term illness and those who are out of work through**** no fault of their own.****
Ensuring that those out of work have all the tools and assistance they need to upskill or change their skillsets to be more attractive to the current labour markets.”
Remember that phrase kiddies, NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN” got it?
that will mean all those lying cheating benefit scroungers that we send through Atos WCA to weedle them out all those who are ”out of work through no fault of their own’..now i call that fucking two faced..
IDS says the end of your working life has now been cancelled. You will have to work indefinitely until you drop dead.
If you refuse, then we shall promptly arrange the cessation of your natural life and the deletion of your physical body.
Caring Compassionate Conservatives.
I had to cancel my internet and land-line in order to pay my Bedroom Tax and Council Tax. I’m currently using my neighbour’s internet. As for the hopeless Universal Jobmatch website, it won’t let me log-on, and in any case does not match any jobs to my criteria. The whole thing is a shambles and will cause absolute chaos.
But, according to IDS, it isn’t about improving the system or even saving money, it is about “changing people”!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22299580
Ministry of Alteration (Red Dwarf): We change people – from being alive people into being dead people.
This is more heavy duty misery for many who cannot use computers let alone get out to public computers as bed bound. In Stockport just a month in another food bank had opened to cope with skint folk unable to afford food. I have little confidence this computer system will work properly and many won’t receive much needed benefits including rent on time or at the correct amount leaving threats of evictions no food or means off getting to poorly paid work.
Banks won’t help the poor in such circumstances. Payday loans and sharks will profit. Tool up. The times are a coming.
You can be the most clued up I.T. person in the multiverse but you’re still only as good as the system underpinning the site you’re using. I do often do my shopping online and at Christmas the Sainsbury’s site imploded under the sheer weight of everyone trying to use it simultaneously. Multiply that by millions and its obvious the UC site is going to collapse. Anyone remember the great CSA and Tax Credit I.T. disasters? The only person who believes this train is still on the track is Iain Duncan Numpty.
He’s the announcer who tells you the 11:09 is on time and running smoothly, when in fact it has derailed and is rapidly approaching platforms five through 12.
”the DWP seem to be actively encouraging people to make their entire initial claim from public computers.” – actually, (over in Leeds here) when we tried to restart our claim we were basically told we could do via the internet or nothing. They refused to let us do it over the phone or via appointment etc.
@kittie ramage did you know that the whole ‘digital by default program was based on ONE consultation exercise just ONE, produced by an ex dotcom entreneneur..thats before the bubble went pop.
There is a job vacancy for company called Marstons. they want kitchen porter in Glasgow area, also a cleaner. This vacancy can still be seen on INDEED.CO, if anyone cares to look…..iThe description of duties is all in Greek. I mean REAL LIVE GREEK that is. Well could be Russian, but I’m sure it is modern Greek ! I have brought it to notice of DWP ppl, but still it is there. In between seeing ads for jobs dated 5/7/2015. I have also raised that with DWP. If they can’t sort that out………..
Smith is a complete fool.
To put it mildly.
The thing is… is it even going to scale even if people do manage to get the info into the system. At a rough guestimate if it takes .5 seconds to read various files from differing disks and subsystems, do some checks and calculations and spit out a bank transfer record for 5,000,000 people then it would take 694hours/24hours = 28days to batch process… just in time to start again for the next months payment round… not to mention making sure that an employer has sent the data and piped it into the system where appropiate and make the assumption that that part of the data is correct… now take into account that some people have varying pay that moves them in and out of various bracket each week and the potential to find a large shortfall in HB in the week when the lowest pay is earnt and its a disaster waiting to happen… not to mention that if it takes weeks to sort out you could be facing eviction by the time its sorted… and what about contact, some premium rate phone number with a voice that sounds suspiciously like it based in India, doesn’t have a clue how to resolve the problem because its not on the approved cockup resolution questions.
Although something similar is done at the moment with HB and CT, with it being done at a local level in a place you can walk in to if there is a problem and talk to a real person who can update the system while you are there and then explain what happened and its resolved in the time it takes to talk to the entry clerk/claimant response person, the overall processing is done by 40+ computers only dealing with local data… so much safer, simpler, and faster overall.
The other great thing about being able to talk face to face is they can explain exactly how the calculation is done in easy to understand terms, this means that when my lads earnings jump a boundary I can calculate what he needs to pay as a non-dependent deduction so even if it takes the council a week to do the re-calculation of HB & CTS I have already paid the correct amount. (although that is now considerably harder with the hugely complex method used in the localized council tax support… CT amount – non-dep =result – 8.5% = payment, or at least I think thats how it works as no one at the council seems to know exactly how it works, only that that is how it seems to work after back calculating what the computer says needs paying… so as far as I know, by the end of the year I could owe hundreds)
At worst 5 million people are going to wake up one month and find no money for 4 weeks and at best if it fails to work and fails to scale to anyone that is not single unemployed it will be quietly shelved and never spoken of again…. like 99% of every major UK government IT contracted computer systems, eg. nirs2, nhs v1, nhs v2, nhs v3 and so on. The only one that ever worked was the gov bills and courts ones, and that is because it is static data that is added to and rarely edited and never has to show/use some form of real time or batch processing.
j w…and that’s on a good day…..!
The other great thing about face to face, is that you can nut them in it.
-Popeye III
Anybody who has had experience with even small systems of this nature, i.e. where data is frequently edited and processed, (e.g. Sprint and e-roof used by housing agencies) will know that they are a pain in the proverbial to use from a human point of view, and would probably be better suited to a paper system that is locally maintained/administered. That used to be the system that operated in the 1980s, the local offices then submitted the authorisation so that you received your Girocheque. (During the 80s I made my claims by post every fortnight, and I don’t remember once the system failing to pay me, though at that time there was always an initial delay, but you always received any backpay automatically) The system worked, was relatively transparent and problems were soon ironed out as you could go and see someone in your local dole office. True, it involved employing a lot of civil servants, and in different offices, as the functions of UB office, Jobcentre and DHSS were seperate.
UC will create an IT nightmare that many staff will hate to use as it will be, due to the nature of the beast, extremely labour intensive. It also relies heavily on employer inputs so that the amounts of UC to be paid will vary, and whilst larger employers may well be able to cope with the IT workload, it will still involve considerable investment in the human resources to deal with the huge amounts of data involved
5 million people with no food would equal widespread riots all over the place.Is that really want the government wants?
Recently, I helped a friend do a ‘rapid reclaim’ for JSA on the DWP website via my internet connection. It took me 1 hour 30 minutes.
Our local library allows only one hour internet use!!!! So how are people going to cope?
just wait til the REALLY clever hackers start on this “system”.. like millions of us sick people with degrees in IT who can’t get jobs because of our illnesses or age.. hahahaha.. they have never even heard of “brute force” leveraging of passwords no doubt, or those lovely ways to “generate” system valid NI numbers.. did I mention SQL injection via manual form completion?
@pandora did I mention SQL injection via manual form completion? no but if you hum it , i’ll play it…(old joke-bit like me then)
In that case get IDS’ social security number and force him to felch bears
(not the men, the ANIMALS!). Of course if he’d rather live in a skip that’s perfectly fine by us.
They tell us to shred all documents but then they ask you to provide all sensitive information in one place over insecure connection. I bet that the resulting identity fault will be our own fault.
As for own internet access – it does pay off in my case. It allows me to stay in touch with my family and friends, have cheap phone calls to 0845 with no line rental, read the papers, watch catch up telly with no licence, do my research when complaining to the dwp, look up offers to ensure my shopping is as cheap as possible, talk to like-minded people online, find recipes and learn a lot (how to fix a halogen oven, distinguishing wild garlic from other poisonous plants – saves money again). The four quid a week it costs is definitely worth it. However, I don’t have children and I already had pc and internet before I became disabled. I guess that makes it much easier.
it is so relieving that the whole thing has been so thoroughly considered…but this scheme also has all the hall marks.of a universal data scrape…to ring out every bit of personal data from a person…it won’t be long before online courts become the norm…
if your name’s john or jane smith you will either: be accused of fraud
OR arrested/fined for offences by a different person of the same name.
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Plusnet is only £6.49 per month, plus another £2 if you want McAfee security. There is a limit on useage (10 GB per month) but free download time between midnight and 8 am. Also very helpful free helpline.
@effjay for £15 pm i get unlimited
Does that include line rental? I would like the internet but don’t have a telephone line so I’d have to get BT to connect me and then pay a line fee, about £11.00 a month I think, plus internet cost £6.49 say, which is nearly £18.00 a month out of Jobseeker’s Allowance. This isn’t possible.
@Jazz…check various web sites for best deal, but line rental is about £15. and you might need engineer, around £50 good luck…
Ever thought that the lack of security regarding Internet fraud and ID theft is possibly deliberate? Or is that a conspiracy theory too far?…:/
Your system very secure, most of us are a bit lax when it comes to security issues, but there are a lot of things you can do. Sadly, most of us use Windows, which can be made secure, but has so many backdoors that security is seriously compromised. It’s true that you can get ‘bolt-on’ security packages like McAffee, but these cost. If you can, I’d suggest changing your operating system over to a Linux distribution. True, it would involve a bit of a learning curve, but it would offer several advantages. It’s basically far more secure in that you would have to actively give your permission to install a virus/trojan/worm or other nasty. There are a few viruses for Linux, but as far as I know these were basically created in a laboratory in order to test Linux security. They don’t survive a reboot. Also, Linux has far fewer exploitable vulnerabilities, most ports are closed by default,(effectively no backdoors, unless you create them) and there are frequent security updates when a potential vulnerability is spotted.
The best thing about most Linux distributions though, from the point of view of most of us, is that they are free of cost, are updated regularly, and there are literally thousands of software packages for every conceivable purpose available, mostly free of cost. You don’t even have to get rid of Windows, as you can install Windows and Linux as a ‘dual-boot’. Just make sure that you read up on the installation process properly or you could risk data loss – basically this means ensuring that you defragment Windows before you attempt to install Linux. If you choose one of the more popular Linux distros, (Ubuntu, for example) installation is a fairly straightforward and simple guided process. If you hit problems, as with any computer operating system you may hit a few, there is an extensive and responsive community to get help from in the many forums that exist.
It’s always advisable to install one of the free anti-virus programmes that are available to the Linux community, not that you as Linux user will really need them, but your Windows using friends may appreciate it if your anti-virus prevents you from inadvertantly spreading a virus or other nasty that could spoil their day.
Avira Antivir is one of the best free anti-viruses. If you want a really good free firewall for Windows I would suggest Comodo, which is better than many a paid application.
and if you’re one of multiple users on a shared public terminal????
Definately deliberate for those commiting said fraud and theft!!!
it IS all about changing people ..live claimants into unclaiming corpses, that should get the jobless total down a bit
I wish I could upvote this. *thumbs up to the computer screen*
I think the Pope should excommunicate IDS for enforcing the P.W.E.
I know JV doesn’t believe in conspiracy “theories”, but when they’re blatantly admitting and publicly declaring their agenda it is hard to deny. “Changing people” indeed. Thatcher once said “economics is the method, the goal is to change the Soul”. One only has to research the true origins of the P.W.E. to understand what is happening, it was first publicly announced in 1614 in the Fama Fraternitatis.
i.e. The “Universal Reformation”
Liberation theology guys talk about equality and social justice (Americas) so maybe it’d work. Pax Christi probably have something to say about IDS too.
THERES ONLY ONE SOLUTION TO THESE BASTARDS AND THATS THE SOLUTION THAT IS IMAGINED ON THE PIC AT THE TOP OF THIS BLOG/PAGE ETC ! MORE ACTION LESS WORDS !
read somewhere that at the dwp, more
than a 1000 private investigators got caught
selling personal data..access to private info
,health,benefit+crime records,bank account
details,mobile phone bills etc..of claimants…
a data theft feeding frenzy.
just hope the dwp doesnt start on
chip implants for claimants like with
obama’care’… chips got gps,bank+health
details etc…guess they dont need to go to
the chip if claimants are loading all the
info online and ready to nick.
http://money-news.money.aol.co.uk/article/2013/04/29/pensioners_paying_back_benefits
pensioners are already paying back benefits they do not need, Iain Duncan Smith has claimed.
The Work and Pensions Secretary defended his remarks over the weekend when he said he would “encourage” people to forego perks such as free TV licences and winter fuel payments.
Coalition ministers traded blows over the comments but Mr Duncan Smith described himself as “relaxed”.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “It was in answer to a question which was ‘what if they don’t need it or don’t want it?’ My answer is if they don’t want it or don’t need it there has always been on the website a helpline. If they want to go and ring that and make arrangements to pay back we have already been taking money from people who want to do that anyway.”
On Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg responded by attacking the Tories for blocking means-testing of the benefits. And Mr Duncan Smith’s Conservative Cabinet colleague Ken Clarke said he did not believe it was even possible to return money to the Government.
But the Work and Pensions Secretary said that his comments had been “twisted”.
“I think that it’s right for them to keep whatever they want to keep, it’s up to them, I am absolutely proud of what we have done,” Mr Duncan Smith said
Prison is looking an attractive option by the day. Never been but if benefits stop it means lack of subsistence – no food! Wonder what the prison bills will be in future as a result of these rocket scientists in power?
Yes, I said as much on my application for D.H.P.
Universal credit WARFARE that works!
fawkes…weapons of mass distraction…
@donkey @fawkes what you make of this UC director guy?
chewie…androg…the word also spells drag-on…take yer pick…
@donkey glad u r not taking this serious often the bods in charge background tells you why they are doing what they are doing why they are there…
chewie…i do take it serious..but there is nothing i can do about it…i’m certainly not going to worry about it…
@donkey ok mate sorry..just punting about..its when you bump into stuff you dont expect…and it makes you wonder thats all..ppl move around in funny circles when it comes to govt wallers…
chewie…. we all need to make sense of the world….what these people do is what they are…the figure head for this uc…is pony smith…his assistants are the type that he would select to help him….santa’s little helpers
@DONKEY its just that the snoopers bill got axed, then UJM was found to spy on ppl..now if this UC DOES SOMETHING SIMILAR THEN..
I would hate to be forced to commit crime to eat but I won’t shrivel up and die quietly in a corner as they’d wish I’m sure. Be even less employable with a criminal record. They’re not gifted in the brain cell department our leaders!
jd…you’ve not been paying attention we are “scum scrounging criminals”, already…but i guess you see right through their lies…
FROM TORYGRAPH FEW DAYS AGO
To ensure that work always pays more, Universal Credit payments will be adjusted regularly depending on how much claimants are earning in work. HM Revenue and Customs’ current Paye system only tracks workers’ earnings on an annual basis.
Under the new RTI rules, employers should report wage payments to staff as soon as they are made – information that will then be used to adjust weekly welfare payments.
However, pilot schemes for the new tax information system have revealed that thousands of employers are not ready to comply
Business groups say that reporting payments “on or before” the date they are made would put a huge burden on many smaller employers, especially those whose staffing requirements are flexible and change quickly.
HMRC chiefs had repeatedly rejected those criticisms, but have now backed down and told firms they can miss the April deadline for complying with RTI rules. They have also admitted that the project is costing more than initially estimated.
Until October, employers with fewer than 50 employers – which between them have around 12 million staff – will be able to report their wage payments on their monthly payroll day.
The Forum of Private Business claimed that the change indicated that the Government was now “panicking” over its reforms.
“Nobody likes last minute changes, and this development perhaps hints at something of a panic at HMRC that many, many small firms still aren’t fully prepared for RTI,” the FPB said.
“However, this does seem the sensible course of action, because a tax system in meltdown come April is in nobody’s best interest, and no doubt many firms will now be breathing a sigh of relief.
PLUS:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/9969574/PAYE-changes-Real-Time-Information-may-be-a-reform-too-far.html
PAYE PROBLEMS
People just need to say no thanks to PAYE, say they would rather do self assesment and pay class 4s. That would bugger up the government.
paul…i like that idea a lot!
We only have to get lucky once, one crash and its digital game over – hundreds of thousands of hungry welfare claimants taking to the streets demanding their welfare payments.
35 hours a week jobsearching? How utterly ridiculous! Can you imagine the kind of crap job search effort that you’d produce through being bored out of your skull? There’s a saying “quality not quantity” they never heard it obviously.
Hold on kids, we have the current Universal Credit program director at DWP in his background has owned his own recruitment agency and been involved in recruitment then shifts into DWP and is connected to targetting fraud ok?
also in his background hes been consultant to / for tech/defence bods…
‘minimise threat stuff’ how does that sound to anyone???
ANYONE?? does that creep you out? i dunno..
Reblogged this on kickingthecat.
this country is turning into the usa…
@sarah daniels will save us going on holiday there then
Speaking on BBC Breakfast News this morning. IDS stated that, 85% of claimants have internet at home or on their phones. He knows this how? And anyone on benefits, who can squeeze enough cash to pay for an internet connection, will soon find with all the cuts being dealt out that the luxury of internet, will soon be replaced by the need for food or heat.
@LISAP its because his pet policy exchange wonk tank tell him that stuff..if they came up with the fact that 60% of unemployed eat sandwiches with no crusts he will spout that shit during an interview to make himself look clever.
I can’t afford sandwiches, only the crusts.
Crust? Undreamed of luxury! I can only afford the crumbs.
It’s true though, that ‘insisting’ on the viability of this at the exact time that it’s more-than certain there really is no way for it to happen, as people’s incomes are about as low (?) as they can go. Their priorities are to feed themselves/their families etc. (knowing that jobs are in short supply) in a way that’s much more energy-draining than it has been before and this alone can swallow up 80% of the (productive) hours in any one day.
& at the same time, D Smith’s DWP want to say to people “Would you just focus on paying your internet connection/costs for a day out in at the library?” and “You need to show us that you are doing this 35 hours in the week so that we know you understand the ‘world of work’ “. (The misMatch here is so mind-bogglingly staggering It would (almost) be funny if it weren’t so serious).
This ‘world of work’ shtick on the information sheets regarding the ‘New Universal Credit’ reads as both sickeningly cynical/patronising and at best ignorant. People know what ‘world of work’ is (even if they haven’t been there recently) …. it’s being used to justify telling people to ‘commit’ to a promise to do 30-whatever hours/week exclusively job searching (“like a full-time job”) – at at time when there are fewer and fewer full-time jobs for many people and they’re being told to “Take any job”. Or have nothing to live on.
Can no-one in government see the irony in all of this? (No – it seems somehow ‘rational’ to them) – they clearly can’t see that turning the thumb-screws in this way isn’t going to enable their plans to come to fruition one way or another.
Also another nonsense that gets traipsed out in support of Universal Credit’s “digital by default” implementation is that it gives the unemployed the computer skills needed in the modern world to secure a position.
I must remember to put that bit of training down on my CV: “IT skills gained by 35 hours jobsearch on Universal Jobmatch coupled with the vast amount of experience I have gained claiming and maintaining my claim for Universal Credit while unemployed.”
It’s all kind of crazy isn’t it?
IT Skills gained by using the UC site = Click, Click, Scroll – Yawn – Click, Click, Scroll – Yawn lol
or a house. If we need to pay for rent then the repo men take the TV/phone/computer. Then we still owe rent so get evicted. Then are homeless so how do we get home landline and internet on the street?
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3/4s of career minimum wage earners have Never owned a P.C. I kno this for a fact, because I refurb old computers, soup them up with whatever is available (the hi end chips,extra ram etc now worthless) and give em to people who never had one. I can tell you most of these people wouldnt kno how to turn a pc on. I have to make a tuff call when I have a box to give, because I dont have the time to teach (most) older beginners.
How the guvernment expects untrained people to successfully apply for jobs online, I havent a clue,
One might assume it is some sort of
‘modern cleansing’.
I am talking about dinner ladies,posties, traffic wardens,(stop it!) all sorts of trades people, anybody who may or may not have qualifications and experience based in the english language for decades, but who has never used a mouse. There written off! The stress shows. These people are core voters.
. . .
Iain Ducan Smith seems to be a very incompetent man.
I sort of got the impression that its the whole country that thinks I.D.S. is incompetent, but only I.D.S. who thinks he’s a Man.
And here is a warrenty on that statement as to what wont happen;
He wont invite me to ‘come and have a go’ etc.
IDS is about to crash with his crap universal dimwit system. Just give it 2 or 3 months.
Yep, give ’em enough rope…
Iain Duncan Smith
Evil Drunken Spiv
Idle Dimwit Sloth
In Da Shit
Evil Devil Smidt
I Dig Suffering
Irritable Dole Syndrome
I Delight in Slavery
I Do Sod All
I Do Spite
It Does Scan
Indiscriminate Dole Sanctions
Itinerant Dumb Sod
Intelligence Doubtful Sometimes
Inexcusable Dubious Slime
It now seem abundantly clear to anyone with an ounce of intelligence that IDS and his cronies at the DWP really don’t have a clue what their doing, they actively want people to lose their benefits or make it that hard for people to claim this ‘doomed to fail’ Universal Credit, that they won’t bother.
The current benefits system is quite adequate and people know where they are with it, UC will be a nightmare for anyone who is not online.
shirleynott/Murray
Oh! lets call the whole thing off!
John McCarry admits Galashiels Health Centre stand-off charge
A court has heard how a 50-year-old man threatened to set both himself and a Borders health centre on fire after having his benefits cut.
John McCarry of Galashiels doused himself in petrol and held the rest of a half-full plastic bottle in one hand and a lighter in the other.
It prompted the evacuation of his home town’s health centre on 28 February.
He admitted a charge of breach of the peace at Selkirk Sheriff Court and his sentence was deferred.
The court was told he was angry that he had been declared fit to work.
Trained negotiators
He entered a doctor’s consulting room at Galashiels Health Centre and threatened to set himself and the building on fire.
However, Dr Robert Soutter managed to get word to a colleague to contact the police which resulted in about 30 staff and patients being shepherded out of the building.
A three-hour stand-off then followed before specially-trained police negotiators finally convinced McCarry to give up the bottle containing petrol and throw the lighter to the ground.
McCarry, of Gorse Lane, Galashiels, appeared from custody and pleaded guilty on indictment to a breach of the peace charge.
He admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner and, while in possession of a bottle of petrol and a lighter, pouring the fuel over his head and body and over the floor.
Sheriff Kevin Drummond deferred sentence for reports and remanded McCarry in custody.
John McCarry admits Galashiels Health Centre stand-off charge
Now if you’re working & go on strike for higher wages you lose your UC – http://welfarenewsservice.com/coalition-rolls-out-crackpot-benefits-scheme/?fb_source=pubv1#.UX-HmsosB3o
“Striking is a choice and in future benefit claimants will have to pay the price for making that choice – as under universal credit, we no longer will …”.
~ sounds a lot like the (definitive) statement that Cait Reilly had a “choice” to decline Poundland’s invitation to (“not” work there for her benefits).
(Dodgy logic, twisted meanings, closed-off options, thinly-veiled threats).
That’s illegal. Everybody in EU has the right to strike (in UDHR too). Also we have the right to unemployment benefits. Only (UK) police, military etc. are not allowed to strike.
Fat twat doesn’t know his arse from his elbow – http://welfarenewsservice.com/i-am-not-asking-pensioners-to-hand-back-benefits-says-duncan-smith/#.UX-I8cosB3o
It is disgraceful that people are being asked to apply for benefits via the internet especially as their system can lock you out or disallow you to submit or by not even letting you in via your password constantly quoting e.mail or password error, as can happen on any website. Just another way to steal benefits from those that are entitled to them.
According to IDS this system was put togeather by claimants, who are these claimants,and why wasnt I asked about it?
ones he personally lobotomised
Yeah, just who does the jumped-up fat twat think he is? The manner in which he talks gets my hackles up, talking down to claimaints like they’re naughty children who must be put in their place& shown the errors of their scrounging, workshy ways. Must think we all have the mental capcity of an ameboa, unlike himself who has the intelligence of a plankton, hope that’s not an insult to plankton!
Plankton is the food of life therefore very useful,unlike aforementioned fat twat!!! no comparisson really!!!
i think it is very important to reconsider….especially in light of the proposed UC roll out (also, who will be blamed for it’s failure, i wonder?)..the basic reasons RELIEF benefits are paid in the first place, that is where i believe the most powerful argument against the conditionality of UC (or any type of scheme past, present, future), lies..what are the relief benefits supposed to achieve, has been overlooked, by many commentators. perhaps also this whole scheme, also casts doubt on the future roles of DWP staff and staffing levels…has this been considered by their unions.. ie automatic sanctions etc…. electronic personal advisers? just thinking out loud!
@obd, I seem to think that relief benefits were originally introduced as a means of relieving rampant poverty [want] and to prevent (for eg.) ragged, shoeless children from begging in the streets. (Or is it just me?).
sn
therefore benefits must be spent in this direction…and only what is left over can be used to meet the needs of any scheme that they dream up to cause the frustration that ids et al are obviously trying to achieve!
so cost it out in a way that meets those basic needs for vitals first..not last..
there is no retrospective…one cannot owe oneself vitals…they have to be met before anything else happens….that is the flaw in their present scheme….although they try to distract one from that…
one cannot live on a sniff of an oil rag…they try to reverse engineer human needs…as you confirm benefits obviously do their work if properly applied….all benefits were designed to provide relief to those in need…and it worked, the proof was plain to see…got to put food in gut before anything happens….no one can buck physiology..
This is a great policy. So long as the first group of children to trial this policy and benefit from the outdoor life of begging in the street in nothing but rags, are the children of the upper classes and government.
And here’s something else as stupid as UC and UJM:
Jobseekers made to carry out bogus psychometric tests
Unemployed people are told they risk losing benefits if they fail to carry out meaningless questionnaire.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/video/2013/apr/30/dwp-jobseekers-sham-psychometric-tests-video
WTF does psychometric mean?????
Is it the same as the test itself meaningless?
murray metric…in this case means shape/fit/profile….so it means fit up by psycho’s…..
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Why are comments being distributed all over instead of at the end of the chain?
Its just a wee test to see how easy or not ,it will be to fill in the new UC application form…
It’s “only fair” and it’s “the right thing to do”?
UC is not about benefits.
It’s about the destruction of social security.
George Smith (IDS) is the anti-matter equvalent of Winston Smith in ‘1984’.
He married into money in order to have the freedom and the cash to buy himself a constituency, then set about taking revenge for his teenage bed-wetting days by attacking the mist vulnerable in society.
I would bet my last social security payment that this sociopath has a history of abuse in his background and is acting out in the most grossly offensive way he can devise.
There is no other explanation for his addiction to cruelty.
And of course he’s found the perfect partner in crime in Lord Fraud.
Their antics are known as a ‘folie à deux’ in psychiatry. Their crimes could not have been perpetrated without them acting in tandem to bring about their fantasies into actuality.
This is mental illness of the highest and most dangerous levels in the heart of the governance of The UKplc.
And I wouldn’t dare say any of this except that I have terminal lung cancer and will be beyond their reach before you can say, ” Computer says : NO! “
@miki…..Make yourself an appointment with ATOS,Im sure your cancer will miraculously clear up,and you will be available for prosecution!!!
ATOS cure AIDS. Let’s say you’re a healthcare professional but somehow you get, or find you have, HIV/AIDS. Luckily you infected nobody. You are banned from your job as a risk to patients. You try getting a teaching job but can’t, as you can’t lecture/research in medicine either. Or they don’t hire you. You end up on the dole and in this climate others don’t hire you either. Then you get sick…
Then Atos gets hold of you and hey presto, you no longer have Aids.
Go and be a doctor again. (um I still have AIDS and am still banned) Go and be a builder. (I have no skill in that and I’m too ill)
Iain Duncan Smith and the Coalition have been getting by for three years by bullshitting. Universal Credit has been touted as the Messiah that will arrive one day to save everyone’s bacon and redeem all sinners. Except it won’t. As with all Messiahs in two thousand years time Universal Credit will still be keeping everyone waiting.
Universal Credit will never work in a “digital by default” form.
IDS and his cronies are simply playing for time and trying to keep the shit from hitting the fan until after the next general election.
The shit’s definately gonna hit the fan way before the next election and it’s gonna fly and stick to everything that’s Conservative.
Lets hope so, and the sooner the better…
Why can’t that c**t be Dead By Default – oh he already is.
It’s not the Messiah, it’s a very naughty con …
we’re all doomed mr mainwaring …doomed!
There are loads of allotments quite near me,big veriety to choose from, just be careful not to get caught…
The Job Crap – Aired on ITV yesterday
What did you all think?
Making fun of a very non humourous situation,if I was working I might laugh but not out loud…
One word:
Angelarrrrggghhh!!!
this is comedy?????
have had funnier root canals sans anaesthetic.
Here is a screenshot of the Universal Credit portal.
Universal Credit online portal – working on a browser that’s not Internet Explorer 6.
http://recombu.com/digital/news/universal-credit-online-claim-chrome-firefox-safari_M11491.html
Wow, it’s going to work on Firefox, the DWP’s Luddite IT bods have finally moved with the times!
Landless peasant
Are you advocating we all forage for food instead of receiving benefits?
not instead of but as well as. If you’re short of food it makes sense to do so, and to grow your own veg.
if you are a carnivore, then, if you can bear it, Farage for food
(pork crackling)
Landless
My reply to you has appeared about 20 places back up the chain , I don’t know where this will end up but I wish jv would have this Glitch sorted out.
Deja vu – there’s been heated debate on this recently @Grauniad (it went on for pages & pages & pages & ….) – following research into medicinal uses of haloumi mushrooms. The picture with the article caused some controversy several people commenting were convinced they weren’t the ones they were claiming to be with others equally convinced they were …
Hope they’re all still ok.
Was sent the link to this nugget on facebook – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317084/Iain-Duncan-Smiths-threat-Treasury-Ill-bite-balls-send-box.html
Looking at the article 24 dash article about housing benefit arrears (via twitter-linked comment above), in logo form, the two letters U.C. slightly overlapping each other, seem to say ‘You See’ …
If they do say that, it’s not an original idea (American poet, e.e cummings, uses sounds in his poems that take on meaning when read ‘as they look’).
He’s also been credited with saying,
“I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart” (he was openly poetic & so probably couldn’t claim benefits).
Housing benefit is income based so if you have no income through sanctions you are entitled to housing benefit, that is when the fun and games start when local councils start giving you the runaround to claim your housing benefit and housing associations and landlords start threatening you with eviction..
Pat
speye’s blog said you can appeal against bedroom tax to council, even minister on tv said there was a form to do so, yet phoned council and they say you can’t appeal.
Speye’s blog said you can have your rent reassessed by housing association if bedroom size below a certain size, thus reducing your bedroom tax by the said small bedroom – housing association say no such thing, your charged for what is on you tenancy agreement about number of bedrooms.
How come other posts are posted on the end of chain and mine end up anywhere?
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