Groundwork boss Sir Tony Hawkhead who recently gave a speech at the annual workfare conference.
Groundwork UK and The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) are believed to be two of the biggest workfare exploiters in the UK.
These two charities do not just force people to work without pay on their environmental chain gangs but also have lucrative DWP contracts to bully people into unpaid work.
Both organisations are providers of the Mandatory Work Activity scheme on which unemployed people can be sent to work without pay for four weeks at a time seemingly on the whims of Jobcentre advisors. Sources have even suggested that TCV have referred unpaid workers on this scheme onto their own environmental projects. This means they not only get a free tax-payer funded workers but are paid again by the tax-payer for the privilege!
Groundwork are planning to go one step further and are currently bidding to run the upcoming Community Work Placements. TCV are also expected to bid. This scheme will involve thousands of people being sentenced to carry out six months forced full time work – that’s 780 hours – over two and a half times the maximum community service punishment which can be handed out by the courts. If successful Groundwork will be paid for everyone they bully into forced labour on the scheme. Whether some of these workers end up working unpaid for Groundwork remains to be seen – but there is nothing in the rules to prevent this.
There is no pretence by the DWP that these schemes actually help people find jobs. Appallingly organisations running the Community Work Placements will be paid more to force someone into workfare than they will if they find them a job. Under new rules even claimants currently serving a sanction – meaning they have no money at all – could be forced into unpaid work or may never be entitled to benefits again. These schemes purely exist to make life on benefits as unbearable as possible due to the warped belief that most people choose to be out of work and that unemployment is caused by unemployed people.
A recent report by Citizens Advice warned that people who have had benefits sanctioned have been driven to attempt suicide, have become homeless or been forced to beg or go through bins to find food. This is what happens to someone who refuses, or is unable to work full time without pay for Groundwork or TCV.
There have recently been questions raised over why so many people are currently going hungry in the UK. This follows a report written by doctors warning that food poverty is now a ‘public health emergency’. It is no secret what is going on however.
The benefit sanctioning activities of charities like TCV, YMCA, Groundwork and the Salvation Army are one of reasons for this suffering. Foodbanks repeatedly report that many people they help have had benefits sanctioned. These organisations cannot wash their hands of their own responsibility for causing hunger in the UK by attempting, as many do, to shift the blame for sanctions onto the DWP. Especially when they don’t just benefit from free workers but also run lucrative Government contracts to manage forced labour schemes which are backed by sanctions.
As part of the week of action against workfare and sanctions it’s time to say enough is enough and hold these shameless bastards to account for their grotesque profiteering. And don’t let them try claim that they aren’t doing it for the money. Workfare and workfare contracts are two of the reasons they can afford to pay their bosses so much after all. These so-called charities are the real benefit scroungers and the suffering they are causing is obscene.
Groundwork are on twitter @groundworkuk and facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groundworkuk
TCV are on twitter @TCVtweets and facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheConservationVolunteers
YMCA are on twitter @YMCA_England and facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/YMCA.England
The Salvation Army are on twitter @salvationarmyuk and facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/salvationarmyuk
And don’t forget another so-called charity involved in mass workfare, The Shaw Trust, on twitter @Shaw_Trust and facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shaw-Trust/221553131217597
Don’t forget to sign the petition calling for an end to all benefit sanctions without exceptions.
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
the void 
You might want to read this: the report that Kent County Council suppressed about the impact of welfare reform: http://twileshare.com/bhdj
Thanks i have re blogged on http://unemploymentmovement.com/forum/chat-a-rap/7973-kent-county-council-withdrawn-report
I’ve been twittering and facebooking my little heart out. I am sick of these companies! Whatever happened to a fair days pay for a fair days work
Fair has been reworded to ‘fare’ as it suggests monetry value …
Ahh I see what you did there 🙂
CAB locally are going to campaign on WelUNfare ads – the ones that (none too subtly) indicate there are benefit cheats (recipients? Same difference) potentially waiting to be ‘spotted/reported’ but that this should[n’t] drive ‘innocent/law-abiding non-welfare hardworking individuals’ into a fury. (Helpful pictures show exactly how [not] angry to feel at the very idea of [unknown] people receiving ‘welfare’ monies fraudulently) …
The ads being in use is also now being ‘looked at’ by their originators (Crimestoppers) – they apparently had an earlier, somewhat well-remembered response questioning the ‘tone’ & the message being sent when it was (more widely?) run…. Intention was only ever meant to highlight ‘actual’ benefit cheats though, of course.
When people find work then they should be paid for it. Till then, if these people are going to sponge off the system, being PAID BY EVERYONE WHO PAYS TAXES, they should at least do something constructive for society, like the work involved with TCV and Groundwork.
Bob
do you seriously expect people to work for £50-£70 a week without being afforded any employment rights such as Health and Safety or sick pay, . Maybe you could prove to me that TCV & Groundwork supply appropriate footwear/headgear/gloves/goggles for example.
Anyway I can prove that these placements are classed as work…
Letter from Glen Watson, dated October 2012
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking whether the Office for National Statistics defines people in unpaid workfare-style programmes as being employed in its Labour Market Statistics. (124129)
The ONS collects information on people participating in government-supported employment and training programmes via the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The information includes the name of the programme and the type of activity being undertaken. Those participants whose activity comprises any form of work, work experience or work-related training are classified as in employment. This is regardless of whether the individual is paid or not.
Ipso facto the government are in breach of their own legislation; as the work placements are classed as employees it follows that they should be paid national minimum wage.
– thelovelywibblywobblyoldlady
They are covered by Health and Safety, and TCV and Groundwork’s insurance policies. The benefits would be the same whether the individual was sick or not, providing they could supply evidence of the illness to their benefit provider.
They also both provide travel expenses on receipt of evidence.
With TCV, when doing any work felling, in date helmets have to be worn, protective gloves are regularly bought and volunteers are handed a pair before starting the task, goggles are used whenever there’s any risk to eyes, though those tasks would usually be left to more experienced volunteers/trained individuals. Steel toe caps must be worn as standard policy, if individuals refuse to wear the boots provided (or wear their own), they are sent home.
At the beginning of every practical conservation task there is a brief introduction to the site, the tools being used, safe use of the tools and introduction to the first aiders. Appropriate welfare is provided etc.
No power tools are used, unless an individual or individuals have certificated training in their use.
Sensitive volunteers are provided for – often those with learning difficulties are involved and are afforded 1 to one care by either a member of staff or a trained volunteer.
Where are you suggesting this money comes from? Would you like to provide it yourself? These charitable organisations simply cannot produce money from nowhere. Besides, if those participants who had been referred by the Jobcentre or wherever else were to be paid, that would leave the other 95% of willing volunteers feeling – if nothing else, a little put out.
I am all for the top wages in this country being reduced, and businesses benefiting from this “workfare” thing is wrong, HOWEVER, it is fantastic for charity work, and if some of these long-term benefit scammers can be used as a workforce in order to improve our green spaces, I’m all for it.
Bob
I already do pay for this Bob as do millions of other taxpayers . What I am saying is this, if someone wants to volunteer their services that’s fine. As the saying goes, better to have one willing volunteer than 10 who are press ganged.
The point is that a large majority of people forced to go on these placements have been classed as fit for work when they clearly are not. Some of the people have had their benefits sanctioned and are receiving no money at all and yet are expected to get themselves to the site and carry out physical work … don’t think even tea and biscuits would help much there Bob.
I’m afraid you and I will have to agree to differ Bob.
My opinion remains the same … a fair days pay, for a fair days work.
Thanks for explaining how tax works, though I believe your argument was that they don’t get paid enough – perhaps you think taxes should be raised to accommodate this?
Definitely, unwilling volunteers won’t last long – if they don’t enjoy it, maybe they can negotiate with their Job Centre assistant. These people are human too and when faced with a positive attitude and willingness to work, will go well out of their way to help.
If that is happening, these people should be re-assessed. Disabilities are recognised and provided for by the government.
In that case, what would be your suggestion for the lazy few who are perfectly capable, but simply won’t work? In my area there are a number of “career claimers”, who are intelligent enough to “talk the talk” at the job-centre, but have worked out that they can get away with not working.
I’ve ran into a lot more of these people than those who are unfit for work and not receiving benefits.
Bob,
You can be well assured that I know how tax works; with respect, I’m not sure that you do.
Unemployed benefits are paid out of the public purse; I’m fine with that, on the grounds that if I ever fall ill, my primary National Insurance contributions will be utilised (the contributory principle)
Out of every £100 paid in benefits, £2.50 accounts for JSA and 70p accounts for fraud (interestingly, pensions account for £42)
Organisations, such as Groundwork and TCV receive payment (from the public purse) for taking part in these schemes.
As these organisations do not pay wages to those on placement, there is a loss to the Exchequer in respect of PAYE income tax and Class 1 National Insurance, both primary (employee contribution) and secondary (employer contribution)
So, in my opinion, there is one winner (the organisation which receives a financial incentive from the taxpayer, but does not collect and remit to HMRC the PAYE and NI as they are not paying wages) and two losers, the taxpayer who has to stand good the cost of the financial incentive paid to the organisation as well as the JSA paid to the “worker” and the “worker” themselves who is not being paid National Minimum wage (NMW).
In answer to your last point, I think that if claimants who are mandated to take part in these placements were paid NMW, it would incentivise them into being prerpared to fully engage with the placement.
So I come to the same conclusion as before … a fair days pay for a fair days work.
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@Johhny am concerned about Atos home visits ..what would bother me if reports contain things like ‘ customer appears to be living above means eg they have television and hi fi ..also have two pairs of shoes ..
Its about visible poverty ..so anything that doesn’t fit visible standard of poverty will be
deemed a luxury ..iTS like disability you have to be seen to be suffering ie in pain all the time but then it could all be faked. In their heads ..having a fridge they would think is luxury …I think this is leading to smart cards for ALL claimants …
Oh shit re Atos home visit..” Children look
Malnourished ….suggest they are put in care …
Bloody hell this opens up a whole can if worms.
chewie
what are you reminded of, total state power over the poor, a return of welfare by charity, the poor house, debtors prisons….dressed up in smiley behaviourisms, to hide the truth from themselves, and blame the victims of their oppressions…sandford/loach “cathy come home”, perhaps? where the state imposes it’s values systems on the poor, and use any means possible to crush any other pov, coz, they are too afraid and guilt ridden to hear us…push people into desperation, try to make people ashamed of who they are and the working class background that people are born into…all done to feed the stereotypes as written by our oppressors….atos or whoever, are just 1 of many lines of oppressors, they try as the might to shut us up they never will..being working class gives one great agility, one can know the experiences of many, many, things that money simply cannot buy….the “rich”, and those in pursuit of “riches”, trade the treasures of their souls, for the treasures of gold, and they resent us for it…they are jealous, because we simply refuse to sell our souls for gold…
Back in the 1950’s a fridge WAS considered a luxury item, that’s how far society has regressed!
And to add, I remember moving into a council house in the mid-1960’s, I think it was1965, & my mother was actually horrified to find that there was an intregal fridge & OMG a phone in the property! Her comment I vaguely recall was “that the neighbours might think we’re well off,as we have a phone” so that was disconnected within a fortnight. Nowadays,almost 50 years later, the phone (she’s nearly 90) is her lifeline, which just shows how what a different world it was within living memory & this is the past that the tory shitbags want to return us to, a past that the poor should feel guilty about having any of the items that make life worth living.
Back in the days of National Assistance a chest of drawers WAS considered a luxury item. An assessor from the Labour Exchange would randomly call at your home and if you were found to have any ‘luxury’ items i.e. a stick of furniture (flatscreen colour TVs hadn’t been invented then) you had to sell it or they would stop your money. We used to pass furniture up and down the back alleys when we knew the assessor was doing their rounds 🙂
Again, thanks for posting this. It’s utterly disgraceful that companies are being paid more to send people on workfare than to actually find them work.
In order to apply for a real job as a Groundworker one must be in possession of a CSCS card, and therefore the same should apply to manual work that is mandatory under Government schemes.
CSCS cards are only required when working on a dangerous construction site (I.e. roofing etc). Groundwork work only using tools which are covered in the risk assessments and deemed to be safe.
Conclusion – this section is not asking for an opinion but rather to add something relevant, eg in severe depression has suicidal ideas or psychotic features. If there is treatment planned such as a hip replacement this is useful information here. GPFR examples for specific conditions
This extract from a document giving advice to doctors filling in forms for patients who are claiming for benefits ..
Consider when FOI requests for benefit related deaths are met with ..” We have no record of such information ” when its patently obvious they do. After all when they suggest to GPs to write FACTS and not opnion citing as examples patients with suicidal thoughts..
Isn’t that strange.
Erratum I left out the bit about mortality rates due to benefit problems .in fact it also adds to the court ruling about discrimination against mental health sufferers by DWP..
So all those keeping their heads down fingers crossed and repeating “I do believe in fairies!” – now know that these elitist dogs will be annihilating and eradicating anyone claiming any entitlement or welfare!
You will not be safe if on a pension, an injured soldier, or half way to hell with cancer, no matter how many NI contributions, either! “First they came for the Gypsies, but I wasn’t one,” – has never had so much relevance! Fight or die!
If anyone doesn’t believe this is all out war on the working classes, then switch off the dribble on your TV’s, and become aware, before you too cease to exist, or become a slave for the next thirty years!
TCV employ young office girls to sanction people, girls who are prepared to lie to Her Majestys Courts and Tribunals as they swapped dates around to get a contract worker sanctioned just to “get them back” for a serious complaint made against them in regard to another lie about the nature of a course.which led to lost work. They sent a University graduate on a “CSCS card course” which turned out to be basic literacy and numeracy leading to loss of work. The sanctions meant the contract worker lost more work due to their support being taken away. Avanta, their parent company buried the complaints, TCV have now lied again to cover their first lies and have sent these lies to the courts. Their business practice is dishonest to begin with.
Main ‘providers’ are getting TCV to do their dirty work. In my area, it is Ingeus palming it off on TCV.
Yep, this comment makes perfect sense…
It appears that Conservation Voulunteers (LOL!) are blocking any critical comments on facebook,
Probably because articles like this cause masses of idiots to blindly lash out and blame whoever and whatever they can, attempting to destroy the reputations of the thousands of low paid workers and volunteers who make projects like TCV and Groundwork possible.
There’s a young homeless lad near me who has had his benefits sanctioned twice and he has now been caught robbing a local large house. He got 18 months inside and his lawyer said he is delighted to go to prison as he will have a roof over his head and three square meals a day!
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeez, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeez, not this shit again!
No, it still only sounds as appetising or appealing as it always has(n’t).
(the day after the day Nelson Mandela died).
Thanks, shirleynott… didn’t realise Nelson had died… had to check the news sites… suspect its not the last we shall hear of this death though…..
We can be disgusted, we can be outraged, we can be sad, we can be angry and we can be whatever emotion we like but guess what?…. nobody who is not affected by the archaic policies of this tory led coalition gives a f**k. If they do it’s often merely lip service. It’s all become bundled up in a mix of hypocrisy and misunderstanding by those who think all this and the other policies are a good idea as they say “To get the bone idle and malingerer off benefits”.. well they are happy with a one-size fits all mentality and happy to always throw the baby out with the bath water because it suits them to do so and to make things worse they are not interested in names and faces of those who have died and of those who have committed suicide, as with many serial murderers they don’t really like to know their victims names or see their faces when the deed is done, they have an agenda and they just see it through until they are stopped.
Fact is this will not end until they are effectively physically stopped from doing it and the consensus is a majority showing on that count, because people become sick of being treated like some junkyard dog or worse. It all comes down to dignity and respect towards our fellow human’s, this stupid coalition is happy to preach the moralistic ideals of democracy and of human rights to other countries yet do not practice what they preach when you scratch below the veneer of this countries coalition. This is what happens when you vote for an extreme right wing party, even those who think their needs for support or any help from welfare or whatever are now finding their wage packets are so thin it’s almost a crime that a coalition full of a great percentage of rich selfish career politicians are picking your pockets for the work you do… they don’t deserve the sweat off your back let-alone the money from your pay packets in crazy taxation.
We can sit at our computers and talk these subjects to death and the only people suffering is indeed ourselves because we are driven out of one emotion or another to do so and share common experiences based upon this coalitions decisions on policy and in many cases regarding welfare which has been hit once too many times in all the wrong ways. Whilst those who could take and afford a few hits are not being touched. Through the years I have never known anybody who has been able to maintain a cushy lifestyle with all the nice trappings when they are capable of working and or not mentally or physically disabled… I’m sure some people out there work and get paid in the hand and claim benefits and for those they are walking a knife-edge.. eventually they will get caught and pay the price.. some may do that because they have no other choice and some do it because they can and don’t give a damn for nobody or any single thing, it is wrong.. not because this government say it is but because of how they use these kinds of people and others to justify what they do to genuine claims and cases when they look at welfare and it’s how many peoples psychology works and of course this government are good at getting into peoples heads.
mr moi can you give your opinion on the second class supermarket for the poor,in all honesty i value your posts
All IDS lovers should read this. How long has he being saying ‘everythings going to plan, theres no problems with UC’.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/05/universal-credit-deadline-iain-duncan-smith
……how strange that in the passing of a few years, the DWP have gone from a position of extolling the virtues of ATOS Health Care Professionals, to a position that they are ashamed to have anything to do with them, whatsover………………….
They were heralded from the rooftops by our con-demn government and afforded the luxury of near billion pound contracts………..
You must ask yourselves, why so much taxpayers, hard pressed income was wasted on the “BIGGEST SET OF SHYSTERS INVITED ON OUR SHORES”.
Congratulations to all of you who have stood in a unified manner to bring this injustice to a head……….
The German government tried to distance itself from the the very people they had instructed to carry out inhumane acts, this is now being seen to be followed by THE INGLORIOUS DWP…………….
They can try to erase their footprints in the sand but the heinous, evil actions against the most vulnerable will remain indelible.
No amount of compensation can bring back a loved one who has succumbed to death, as a result of our crazed welfare policies,
indeed, the Queen, our monarch, should stand trial for giving royal assent for these unsavoury actions upon her subjects.
In doing so, she signed the death warrants for those least likely to have the provision to fight back, the weakest in our society.
It’s no good waltzing around wearing ermine and pearls and unveiling plaques to yourself, while you shaft the very citizens you have been expected to protect.
The criminal actions, and i repeat, criminal actions, are being laid at the feet of the HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONERS, who, i expect, should be pursuing the complaints vigorously, as the death toll is continuing to spiral, out of control…………….
ATOS, therefore are now disgraced, but who dare pick up the mantle that would allow them to further persecute the disabled?
One thing is for sure, the DWP is now in a state of denial, a denial that was thrust upon the existence of disability of our persons.
The freedom of information galleries hold all the relevant information that the DWP has released since the inception of the
ESA examinations.
It is a damning indictment of their collusion with a renegade company who were allowed to take lives based upon deception hidden in welfare reform, murder by decree……….
KEEP ON RUNNING, THE TRUTH IS TIGHTENING THE NOOSE THAT HAS BEEN FIRMLY PLACED AROUND YOUR NECKS………………………
johnny, think @landless pesant might be on to something with the requirement for CSCS cards to get paid employment. ive long thought, along a similar line, it would be interesting to know how many people have had access to work assessments/support while workfaring it. if, as I suspect (don’t think its available for w/fare placements), people are working without suitable adaptions/equipment/support(/qualifications), are there H&S issues (there are) and whats the unions role in addressing this.
just a brain fart. am not really expecting people to know/answer.
THE COFFINS KEEP ON COMING,
ATOS DID IT’S BEST,
TO CHEAT OUR WEAK DISABLED,
AND LAY THEM DOWN TO REST.
YET WORKS AND PENSIONS WORKERS,
APPLIED THE CLAIMANT CUTS,
AND PRETEND THE DEATHS AREN’T HAPPENING,
AND SHOW THEIR LACK OF GUTS.
YET MURDER IS A CRIME,
WE’VE SEEN THEM ALL COMMIT,
ON THE FRAILEST IN SOCIETY,
THEY UNLEASHED THEIR EVIL SHIT.
KEEP LOOKING RIGHT BEHIND YOU,
YOUR SINS WON’T GO AWAY,
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY,
FOREVER HERE TO STAY.
WE ONLY FOLLOWED ORDERS,
IS NO EXCUSE TO KILL.
TAKING LIVES AT RANDOM,
TO EASE THE WELFARE BILL.
THE NOOSE OF TRUTH IS TIGHTENING,
THUS, ONLY TIME WILL TELL
TO CHOKE THE LIFEBLOOD FROM YOU,
FOR THOSE, YOU DAMNED TO HELL………….
If these companies are going to be involved in community actitvities that means some might be in areas were we live …..So we know what we have to do!
With all this money they are racking in they really could afford to pay/give lunch to these ‘slaves’ at least something to reconise that these people have to work without any extra income ,after all these compaines aren’t doing it without any extra income…. are they!
Rosemarie Harris –
TCV provide tea and coffee, travel expenses and biscuits for their volunteers.
Income is spent on other projects that TCV are involved in.
These “slaves” should be claiming housing benefit, income support and JSA, and frequently are. So in effect – they are being paid, making the term “slave” incorrect.
yet intruth we are slaves to do their bidding for the small amounts they pay us thatsthe government but how can they say unemployment down as well cooking the books figures to suite just like that banker who cooks the books but slaves wil and revolt its just a matter of time how much can they take
Seetec staff are being investigated for claiming job outcomes for disabled people who had actually been working unpaid for charities. They are also being investigated for not carrying out CRB checks on staff who were working with vulnerable clients: http://indusdelta.co.uk/discussion/seetec_investigation/14251
i have said for a very long time that we are going backwards re the care of the old and disabled .I am disabled have been for years , just typing this takes me ages due to my hands and love spell check, you would not understand it . But i digress, My father died in 1962, he had worked hard all his life as a miner and after the war where he lost his leg he worked as a carpenter and Tanner . My mother had five children at home in 62 , two had left home . My mother applied for family assistance , they came to the house . We had a TV , my father had worked hard to get us . SELL IT ,table and chairs ..SELL IT …sofa and chairs SELL THEM …What do we sit on , the carpet ? No you have to sell that too.you can get orange boxes from the shops ,sit on those . We are also considering taken your youngest two children into care .. My mother then face red with anger told him, to get out ….,, She went and found a job as a cleaner ,her first job in 20years . ..and then easy to find a job ….and she worked up to the day she died 15 years later .aged 61, so past retirement age then . This is what is going to happen soon. we will be told to sell every possession ,live in cold unfurnished homes , if no home will be put in empty warehouses as dorms, workers taken out each day to work for food , if you disabled and cant work you will starve unless the people around you help, I have always been proud to British , but no more . This government should NOT send money to aid other countries ,except in cases of disasters , they should NOT make the elderly who have worked and fought for this country being dismissed by people who have not lived through hardship, would not know what hardship is they need to be shown .or far tooo many people are going to die . kill the young’s spirit .
The MPs with the Claims of expenses should be stopped … if the wages not good enough ,dont do the job….. and stop the pensions they leave with after only being an MP for a year . its disgraceful. but we are being told to work till 68 to get peanuts .
Do you mean food stamps? I did the maths, you would need to be able to spend them in over 500, 000 places (start with every landlord, every bank, every shop, and every govt department. We could even put inspirational figures like Dickens or Watt on them. We could call them after a virtue – how does ‘sterling’ sound?
when i was a younger person thatcher was in power i was in the raf,i knew all the shit was happening but kept my head down,but revolutiopn has to come from the youngsters maybe when theyve had enough of being treated like shite being made to work for fuck all made to grovell for every penny in help had enough of being abused by jc staff they will forget xfactor jungle shit selfies and all the celeb culture and start to change things..not for us,,,but for theyre future
Has anyone else noticed that McAffee site adviser flags this site as dangerous?
Wow, I’ve never seen such a crock-pot of shit in my whole life. And I bet you block any negative comments.
When people have been scrounging off the benefit system for years, of course they should be made to do work. If they’re not willing to find paid work themselves, why should everyone else in the country have to support them?
Perhaps in some cases volunteering with Groundwork or TCV might not be beneficial for everyone, but the point is that there is an option of what you can do. To even get to that stage individuals must have turned down a whole range of other work.
Typically it is only those wanting experience in practical conservation, building work or something along those lines that are even referred this direction.
Besides, the type of work that these organisations carry out is typically for the benefit of local communities, and includes: working on improving footpaths, environmental education areas, planting trees and generally improving the quality and access of green areas. At least these people can give something back, even if they’re not going to find themselves a proper place in society.
Perhaps the only issue with these charities is that the top few are being paid over the odds, but in this Tory run society that is true of any large working organisation.
This article is basically slander, perhaps right if aimed at a few top managers, though the impact would ripple throughout the fantastic people who work on the ground in these organisations – though luckily you have a small enough following that this isn’t the case.
Keep doing what you’re doing, at least you’re the relatively harmless type of extremist.
Is your shit any better though, and based on any truth more to the point?
Have you been robbed of your life’s pension, after a lifetime as a ‘hard-working family’ or understand the percentages here of what the truth is of ‘Benefit Thefts,’ when it is 1.7% compared to the enormous differences in stolen benefits/taxes by those who are in control? Every day reports come in of some sort of corruption, theft and downright criminal activity, fleecing billions of tax payer’s money. Lying, cheating politicians and their Herman Himmler type media controllers pulling their strings! Are they serving time when caught, and judged the same as the thieving chavs trying to feed themselves? I don’t think so.
There may be OTT anger here, but maybe it would emanate from you too if you were disabled and living in a tent in the woods, having to hobble the 3 miles to a food-bank, or scraping a skip to stay alive!
I think you might have missed out the word ‘Balanced?’
Are you Bob Cameron/Clegg/Smith?
It’s based on experience – I’m not the one claiming any outrageous figures without sources here… *ahem*
My complaint is the target of this article, not the underlying feeling. Though I’ll be honest I’ve had a relatively good life, I had hard-working parents and I’ve been lucky with work myself. Though that’s not been true of a number of my friends, many of whom I’ve met volunteering with TCV and for many people it’s turned their lives around.
I could ask the same about your unfounded claims and outrageous bias opinion. Would it be related to your more fortunate circumstances, inheritances and free education, by any chance?
The statistics are available in many places, if one wishes to check them. Would you like a long list of links? Would you read them?
I realise most of the public would prefer to believe that which is indoctrinated by propaganda and a media pulling political strings with it’s obvious motives, though.
One only has to check the figures for the disgraceful denial of entitlements to the disabled, and resultant statistics for successful court cases against ATOS and the DWP to come to conclusions of such mentioned bias.
Whilst we can agree there are a few that try to cheat the system, they pale into miniscule insignificance in their numbers and their financial effects of draining the country, compared to those in control and their corruption.
But let’s all forget about that, and hammer the destitute, it’s so much more fashionable these days for those that would sell their own grandmother’s teeth, to maintain their comforts and privileges.
Well said
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